Ten Years ago today, I graduated high school....

As I watched the Commencement Ceremony for the class of 2011 I couldn't help but flash back to the day that I graduated High School. Ironically someone got some press saying that the end of the world would be today, so sitting there listening about their futures and the impending doom upon us, just struck me as interesting...

I distinctly remember sitting there next to my classmates 10 years ago thinking: "it will never be the same" (not that I wanted it to). The thought had more to do with not seeing my classmates anymore. I remember the thoughts of "who will move away?", "who will have the most kids", "who will be a total Fat A**" (that one turned out to be me). I could look at my classmates and tell you some of their destinies just by looking at them...the trouble makers that would end up in jail, the beauties that would continue to shine, the losers, the jocks, the winners and the unique who so misunderstood during high school would probably be the most successful of them all.

I also remember the pressure of people asking what I was going to DO with the rest of my life. Having being knocked up my senior year (a whole other blog entirely) that thought was then more than ever, unclear to me. I didn't KNOW what I wanted, I didn't care.

I was 18, preggers, and newly married and the weight of that seemed much more oppressive than anything school related. I can't say that I did things the "right" way, and I can't say that I didn't. I do know that had I not made the choices I did back then, I wouldn't be the women I am today.

I had to fight.

I had to fight against people judging me. I had to fight with myself over my parents being embarrassed. I had to fight when everyone else was right about being married so young. I had to fight when I found another was on the way. I fought with myself most of all. It turns out that my real education didn't come from school at all. It came from life, from struggle and overcoming it, despite it all.



You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself in any direction you choose.
You're on your own.
And you know what you know.
You are the guy who'll decide where to go.
~Dr. Seuss