Thank You for Helping Me Be Me

When we last meet I told you about my big 10 mile race. That will always remain one of my greatest accomplishments. I’m still on a high from the race. However, I regret to admit I haven’t been out for a good run since the race. I am going to make lacing my sneakers up a priority again.

A lot has happened since I last blogged. For starters; I graduated!! That’s right I am now the proud owner of a Master’s Degree. I also turned 27.

Both the graduation and my birthday represent the passing of time. 2 years ago, when I began grad school, I was a mess of a human being. I moved back to Scranton on someone else’s terms, I spent the better part of the summer heartbroken, and I felt like I lost control of my life. But with the help of my incredible family and the most amazing friends God can give a person, I realized that life was never mine. I was a shell of myself before I moved home.

I think deep down inside I always knew the life I was living wasn’t right. But, for some reason people have the ability to make they believe things are perfect when they aren’t. Through the years there were a few times I told friends I wasn’t happy or I needed out of a far from perfect relationship. But, we always brushed it off as stuff that was said after too much wine or tequila. I guess a good solid heartbreak was exactly what I needed to realize they were never just drunk thoughts.

So I picked up the pieces of a crumbled life and went back to school. (Grad school was always something I wanted to do, but was never a possibility in my “past life”). Doing something huge for me and all by myself was the first step in building MY life. Fast forward two years later; I now own my life. I know exactly what I am capable of. I can do more than idly survive; I can start fresh and make a world that is mine.

For me two years of school, two birthdays and a Master’s Degree represent so much more than the passing of time, the debt of student loans and the possibility of a better career. It represents my strengths and the amazing people I have supporting me in my life.

To these people; thank you xoxo