I find it funny that when you are growing up, no matter where you are from, you can't wait to get out of there as fast as you can once you grow up and graduate from high school. My high school was very much out of a storybook. It was small, about 1,500 kids from ninth to 12 grade. I was in a class of 300 when I graduated. Everyone knew everyone and it was a small town where it was safe to walk after dark and you never had to be afraid. We had the Friday Night Lights town football games, a homecoming parade in the Fall and Yankee Doodle Days in the Summer. It was where everyone dreamed of growing up, just like in the movies. When I graduated, I couldn't get out of there fast enough. I was ready to create a new path and make my dreams happen. Now, I can't wait to get back to this small little town. I want my kids and my family here. I want to be a teacher in this small little movie town. I have this strange pull for me to go home. Back to where it all started. I want my kids to feel it. I want them to grow up in the same small town that my story started in. I feel as if I have to complete a full circle and go back home.

(pictured here is main street in downtown Grand Ledge, Michigan)

My path took some crazy turns, but I think that I turned out ok.

Yes, I didn't take the path that I wanted for myself in any way, but

I feel as if I handled what was dealt to me very well. I was a mother

at the age of 20, (almost 21) I supported myself and my son to the

best of my ability (at the time) and I made sure that he was taken

care of, even if that meant that I had to go without. I had to drop

out of college to support him full time and put school on

the back burner in the meantime. Which was fine with me, I did what I

had to do, and I had someone else to depend on me. In addition, if I

didn't do this then who was going to take care of him? So I stepped

up, was all in, and did what I had to do with a smile everyday. Not

everyday was easy, but I managed to trudge through it

all. I always had the option to quit and go back home, but I was

determined to graduate from my dream college and I was so close now,

I felt I couldn't quit now. Now I am finishing where I left off with

school, and I am going to finish what I started so long ago. I do have many great memories of where I grew up. Some bad, but the good outweigh the bad. I am graduating from my dream school too in December of 2015 with my bachelors degree in Journalism.

(pictured here are the Ledges, to walk on along the Grand River in Grand Ledge, Michigan)

Now I am weeks away from the end of my path, and I am hoping that it takes me home. Now being older and more mature, I understand the closeness of family and how important that bond is. In addition, now that I have my dad in my life, I would really like for him and my step mother, brothers and sister to get to know my kids. If we were to move, we would have such a huge support system to help us.

It is so refreshing to have family that would be there for you no matter what. I miss home and I can't wait to get back. I feel as if our opportunities are endless and we would have a very supportive system by friends and family to help us along our new path. Yes, I want my kids to grow up and live in the very town where my story began. Now I know there is no place on earth like home.