During October of last year, my now-ex broke up with me. We had been together for almost a year and a half (which is a long time for high school relationships, OK? don't judge), and I was honestly completely broken. It was the first time someone had broken up with me, not the other way around, and I didn't really know how to act.

My mom, the ever-loving woman that she is, understood how I was feeling, and asked me if there was anything I had ever wanted to try. Something new to take my mind off things.

I told her I wanted to quilt.

I don't really know why I wanted to quilt (I still don't), but that day my mom took me to the local quilt store (located in a red caboose and called Cupcake Quilts) to get me all the stuff I needed to quilt.

And boy, was it expensive.

Like hundreds of dollars expensive.

But I knew this is what I wanted to do, and I was going to finish it, no matter what.

Even though it wasn't easy going at times (I messed up lots), I worked on the quilt. I worked on it through family visits (and subsequent yelling-matches), memorizing Hamlet's "To Be or Not To Be" speech (the above picture is me taking a break while Kenneth Branagh's version plays in the background), and going on another first date (and finding out that you actually like this boy from your English class a lot. Like A LOT). Every piece of my life that's happened since I put the first stitch down is engrained in that quilt. A part of my life is in that quilt.

I finished quilting it a few days ago (I love to procrastinate. Always) and now it's being finished up by the super nice ladies at the quilt shop. When I get it back, I plan to take lots of pictures with it because I made it. It's mine! I still can't believe that I actually made a quilt (for the most part) completely by myself, and I was self-taught.

Even though the quilt started as a distraction from a break-up, it turned into a celebration of practically my entire senior year and everything that went into it. This first quilt of mine is a reminder that life goes on, and it's up to you how you live it. I'm so incredibly proud of not only this quilt (can you believe I made it?) but of who I've become. When I started this quilt, I was a completely different person than I am now. It's awesome that I'm able to hold my character development in my hands and realize how much I've changed.

Finishing this project is an awesome reward for just being alive. It's a tribute to the fact that no matter what happens, you will recover. Even if the bad times have been going on for a while, you have to keep holding out hope that the good times will come.

Each person's battle with life is unique, and mine just happens to include sewing pieces of fabric together in cool designs.

Life can be funny like that sometimes.

(P.S.: I've already started my second one).