"One Tree Hill" was a show that ran for 9 seasons from 2003 to 2012. To think a show about a group of teens in a small town in North Carolina who loved basketball could go on for that long may be a surprise to some, but I think that One Tree Hill ran for as long as it did because of the fans and how much they loved the characters and their devotion and desire to know what would happen with Nathan, Hayley, Lucas, Peyton, Brooke, Mouth, etc. They wanted to see the Tree Hill Ravens win their final champion chip game. They wanted to know how Nathan and Hayley's relationship would go? Who Lucas would end up with and what he would do if he could not play basketball? If Dan would get what he deserved? What would become of Brooke's fashion line? Or Peyton's dreams of working in music? The fans were invested so much that there have been merchandise, CD's, and even conventions created solely devoted to "One Tree Hill."

Before a few weeks ago I had seen a few episodes of One Tree Hill here and there. My sisters had watched the show and enjoyed it and when they were binge watching it the previous year, I caught a few episodes during that time. Last summer my family and I even got the chance to visit Wilmington, NC where the show was filmed. We got shirts related to the show and even got to see memorable filming spots of some of the greatest "One Tree Hil"l scenes. Sadly, many things were torn down were not at their original locations anymore, but we were lucky enough to go to the bench where Nathan gave Hayley and bracelet and said those memorable words, "Don't say I never gave you anything." The show has so many moments and scenes that made the show as great as it was. It left viewers with lessons to think about, jokes to laugh at, scenes to cry about, and so on.

I took away a few things from watching the show for the past few weeks. The first thing that comes to mind is that people can be redeemed and change. The three characters I feel that showed the most character development for the better in the show were Brooke, Dan, and Nathan. Brooke went from being someone who was a popular cheerleader using her parent's money and dealing with neglect from her mom and dad to being someone who started two successful businesses and even used them to reconnect with her parents. Dan went from a selfish, lying, abusive, man who cared more about basketball and himself (to the point that he killed his own brother due to his own selfishness), to someone who ended up risking his lives to save his family and even ended up killing himself because of it. Nathan in my opinion was the biggest redeemed character as he went from being someone who was a bully jock who went as far as to hurt his own brother and embarrass him multiple times to a man who loved his wife and kids and for the most part a great husband and father to them, as well as good brother, friend, and person overall. One Tree Hill taught viewers that even the worst of people could become great in the end.

Another lesson "One Tree Hill" taught us is about not giving up on dreams, working hard, and not settling. In One Tree Hill one way this is shown is through the businesses created on the show, more specifically Clothes Over Bros and Red Bedroom Records. At one point during the show when Clothes Over Bros was created Brooke decided that even though she was running a million dollar fashion empire in New York she wanted to prove that a store could do well in Tree Hill and she could run the company without her mothers help. While it did not work out exactly as she hoped at first Brooke was able to show her mother she was capable of running the company successfully on her own. While she did loose the company later on in the show, Brooke did not give up and ended up creating a new company called Baker Man, a little boy clothing line inspired by her own sons, with both her parents working as partners.Brooke's determination and passion helped her to prove she could run a successful company and not just be a pretty popular girl all her life. Peyton's creation of Red Bedroom Records spawned from the fact that she did not want to spend her life going with whatever her boss told her and having to show skin to get into meetings just to get ahead. So she quit her job, did no settle for the easy path and it paid off since she was able to create Red Bedroom Records, a record label she owned and was able to control and help find amazing talent she believed in.

The last lesson that the show taught was that there was more to life than basketball. While many of the characters on the show started out as just athletes or cheerleaders or fans or sports reporters or coaches, the show went deeper into that to show that these characters were more than just lovers of a sport or participating somehow in that sport. The show also by the end reminded us that just because one dream ends, does not mean your entire life is over. For instance, perhaps season one Nathan and Dan would have been furious and extremely upset to know that years from now Nathan would only get to play in NBA for a small amount of time until his back started to deteriorate and he became a sports agent. Season 8 and 9 Nathan however was able to deal with that fact and accept is as he knew he had more things in his life to be thankful for and care about that playing a game. He had his children and wife and friends and other family members to be grateful for and knew that giving up the game for his health and to spend as much time on this earth as possible with them was worth more than playing pro ball for longer than he did.

One Tree Hill was a show that made people laugh, cry, gasp, and overall taught us amazing lessons that all of need to hear and/or need to be reminded of sometime. It may sound strange that a show that started about residents of a small town who loved basketball could grow into something so much more. If you have not seen "One Tree Hill," I definitely recommend it. I know you won't regret it.