I knew I would love college before I was even in high school. My dad loved his time in college, and everything in movies told me it would be some of the best times of my life. So far they've been right, but getting to this point hasn't always been smooth sailing.
I moved from Chicago, Illinois to Owasso, Oklahoma on a Wednesday in the second week of the spring semester of my fifth-grade year. Not the most ideal time to acclimate to an entirely new environment, to say the least.
Initially, I hated Oklahoma. I came from one of the most beautiful cities in the world to nothing but brown grass for miles on end. I didn't have a choice but to stick it out, of course, and I'm incredibly thankful I did. I met some of the best friends in my life, had my heart broken a couple times and made memories I'll carry with me forever.
However, it all came crashing down when my dad found out his office was being relocated...
To Florida.
I was distraught. Do I leave my best friends, first love and take a chance on another new school for senior year, or do I stay comfortable and graduate with the people I grew up with, forcing my parents to separate for a year? With "family first" always in mind, I decided to pack up my life three days after junior year and head to a town 1,400 miles away that just got a pin on Google Maps last year.
Senior year had the potential to be dynamic. Everyone wants to leave high school and never look back, or go out with a bang, right?
Unfortunately, it was less than stellar. I became someone I didn't recognize. I hung out with people who pulled me down rather than brought me up and never made me feel comfortable in my own skin. I put others down to feel better about myself. I didn't like who I had become and I don't know how I let myself get to that point. Nevertheless, I left that town and that high school with literally two friends who became the best part of that year. You know who you are. Thank you.
College brought on an entirely new perspective and it was the best thing that could have happened to me. I had a lot of time to reflect on my choices and who I really wanted to become in this life. I formed my own opinions, figured out what I valued and believed in, and discovered my passions. I become a confident, empowering woman rather than someone who felt the need to drag others down due to her own insecurities. I've been blessed with the best roommates, friends, teammates (and now sisters) I could have ever asked for. It sounds cliché, but it is nothing but the truth.
To the girl I was senior year, I'm sorry. I'm sorry you had a potentially incredible experience ripped away from you because of a few poor choices and bad friends. I'm sorry you felt so terrible about yourself you made yourself the problem.
I wish I could've seen what was happening while it was happening, but hey, hindsight is 20/20. I think she'd proud of me, anyway.
