I have learned a lot of things in my 18 years of life.

1) The best way to find out if you can trust someone is to just trust them.

2) Animals are almost always better companions than people.

3) You have to learn to love yourself before you can learn to love someone else.

4) When all else fails, carbs don't.

5) Life is too short to not tell the people you love that you love them.

6) God is important. Always

7) Music is one of the greatest things to exist.

8) Treat the lunch lady with the same amount of respect as the superintendent.

9) There is no such thing as too many hugs.

Last but certainly not least:

10) Family has nothing to do with blood. Family are the people who walk into your life when everyone else walks out. The ones that will be there for you whether you are at the highest point in your life or the lowest.

Most of the people that I consider family are not blood related. They are people who I have been around and talked to more than most of my family members. The ones who have been there to help when it is needed. And it is nothing against my family because most of them live a very long ways away. While I have rarely seen those, other people who are family now have been around more. They have watched me grow periodically over my 18 years. I am extremely blessed for all those people.

Do not ever forget about those people. They were the ones that loved you when you could not love yourself. The ones that took you in and took care of you when you could not take care of yourself. The ones that have been and always will be family despite the blood that runs through your veins.