Tonight I had to make a collage of my “life” for my speech communication class. At first I was weary that I would have nothing to share, but suddenly an hour and a half had passed and I was no where close to being done. Doing this presentation reminded me of why I love my life, my friends, and my past. I realized just how thankful I am for every opportunity I’ve been privileged enough to experience. My family is literally my backbone and without them, I have no idea who I’d be. Whenever I visit California to see my extended family, I feel like I’m going home. They are the people who I will always love and cry over when I have to say goodbye. My brother is my best friend and he probably “gets” me more than anyone else. He knows that I’m this random crazy girl who isn’t afraid to embarrass myself, but he also knows what makes me tick and how to calm me down. The conversations I have with my brother will always be the ones I cherish the most. I talked about how I used to play softball, but how soon my passion became music. Then I put in a bunch of old pictures of ELT back when we were all sixteen and I couldn’t help smiling. We were so young and innocent—in every picture we were laughing hysterically. I miss that a lot. I guess we’ve all grown up and seen parts of this cold world we weren’t expecting and that changed us. All I know is that I’m so thankful that my high school experience was spent with Taylor, Jayson, Paul, and Chris and of course later on the wonderful Seth and Ethan.

Basically I took a long look at my past and my life and I realized that I have nothing to be upset about. Yes I’ve been hurt before but compared to all my 19 years of life, that time of my life and the time I’m currently in will only be a blimp on the map. Life isn’t meant to be spent down in the dumps—it’s meant to be a time you spend smiling, laughing, and loving what you’re doing—it’s meant to be a time where you make memories with the people who matter.

I am so thankful for my family, the friends who have stuck with me, and the amazing memories I have already made. I feel so blessed and I cannot wait for the future. Now it’s time to make some new memories.