A little reminiscing...

I'm not going to lie.

The college years for me definitely had their highs and their lows.

Some of my happiest memories are from those years. But between all of those memories there are little pangs of hard life lessons i learned through those times. I remember going down to St. George, UT as a young 18 year old that was completely naive to the world. I felt that everyone was good and never had evil intentions. I loved the new freedoms that i was able to feel. I never felt my parents were ever overbearing..if anything, they pushed me to get out of my own little world and experience life to the fullest. But there is something so different about not having anyone to report back to. No one that knows your life before college. Its a clean slate.

I feel like i was able to find my true Michelle in college. A lot of people that knew me in high school and that now know me now can attest that i am different person. I can't describe whether it is one thing or another that helped my personality come out of it's cocoon, but i am grateful for those years. I'm grateful for that time to myself. To let loose of what others thought and step-by-step embrace who i am.

High school i feel is a time of smoky mirrors.
Everyone is categorized.
You want to be categorized.
If i am a certain way, i belong to _____ group. Whether it is an athletic, academic or social clique.
You belong.
I was lucky enough to have an amazing group of friends and parents that listened to every date, hang-out and complaint through high school. But there was always something i felt that was holding me back. Now i realize it was my own insecurities that kept myself back.
It wasn't until i left home, put on my big kid pants and sucked in real life for myself that i realized what life i wanted to live.
College was my new beginning.
College was my time.
I wore what i wanted.
I said what i felt.
I embraced my weirdness.
Now looking back...i couldn't be more happy for doing just this.

I sat at work today and scanned through my pictures from the past 5 years and couldn't realize that it has been FIVE years since i graduated high school.
FIVE.
When did this all happen.
Wasn't 2007 last year?
...and yet...
It all comes back when i look through pictures and see all of those memories staring right back at me. I'm grateful now for all of those amazing memories from the past five years. I'm so glad i had that time just to myself to grow and develop. I'm grateful for my roommates, both good and bad. I'm grateful for the breakups and nights of crying. (Never thought I would say that one). If i could have told the Michelle of 2007 that things would have turned out this way, i probably wouldn't believe myself.
I'm a lucky girl.