Life Changes.

So, I'm officially a college graduate. I did what I said I was going to do all this time.

As I sit outside on my deck, the birds are chirping, coffee by my side and phone on silent. I realize what my life has become.... it's exactly what I wanted it to become.

I went back to school despite everyone who every told me I'd never do it or that I simply couldn't. I have my dream job, despite of how stupid everyone said it was, I'm a marketing and promotions coordinator for a sports team. I have a boyfriend, that everyone thought I'd never find just for the simple back that I was picky. I lost 50 pounds when everyone used to make jokes about my chub. I am in great shape now, and I owe everything to myself, for using all the negative comments as motivation. I owe it all to the love of my life and the friends I've made here for always pushing when I felt like giving up. I am here. On my two feet. And I am happy.

Sure, I go back to my hometown to visit sometimes but, it's just weird to be back in a place where I know I never belonged. I stumbled upon an article on ELITE Daily one day, about how your hometown doesn't feel like home anymore and everything is true. This like everything has a past but you don't see a future, I realize all I have left in common with my friends that are still there is that we grew up there except for a select few I still talk to on a regular basis, I definitely realize how far I've come, especially when I see the same people doing the same things and those things I used to love doing. The funny part is, I don't care anymore. I feel like an outsider, because well let's face it, I never belonged there in the first place.

My roots are not forgotten but, I have new roots somewhere else. I realize my hometown, never really felt like home. I never felt this safe, this loved by anyone, or so happy in my entire life. This feels like home for the first time. Family isn't always supposed to be "blood" and I know that first hand because some of my family put the fund in dysfunctional. I have made my own little family up here and I'm perfectly happy with that.

I get in my car and drive to work or wherever I wanna go, and I am familiar with the easy way to work, the main way, and the back way. I like the back way because it is the road "less traveled" and at some spots it overlooks my entire "new home". I live free of the small town gossip because not a lot of people know me here and I like it that way. I have a close circle of friends, and I like it that way. When I moved away I realized for quarters are better than 100 pennies, after a few falling outs with people I thought were my "friends". I like shopping at local farmer's markets, buying one of a kind things, and cooking home cooked meals for when Brandon gets home from a 12 hour shift. I have built this life for myself when A LOT of people were against me and put me down. But you know what, those people were the first ones to say how happy they were for me, and in all honestly, I don't care. I care about the opinions of people who never left my side, were always there for me, and honestly.... those who picked me up when I fell down.

So as I sit here with my coffee in hand, the birds chirping around me, the col breeze blowing on my face, I reflect on the last two years of my life and realize, I had to leave home to make a new home so I could be happy. I could go on about how miserable I was, what people did to me, etc. But this post, is turning the page.

This is me, starting my life for real, with the man I love, in a place I adore, with friends I would do anything for, this is me, happy. And to those who never believed in me, you remain in the last chapter as I move on.