MY NEW ERA

I believe it was an episode of Friends that taught me that an era is any significant amount of time. It could be a semester of classes, ten seasons of a great show, Springtime, the time you spend working at a certain job, the years you live at home, or even how long you spend crammed into a car driving with your family around the state. In my life I've had many eras. There were the years I spent in the era of living at home, the three years I spent in the era of high school, the summer eras spent with my best friend, the era of Jr. High, the era of childhood, the era of my Gilmore Girl Obsession, the eras spent with certain boys, the era of growing up and so many more.

The era I've been pondering the most lately though is the one that I feel is currently coming to a close- it is the Era of Great Change...

Because 1 picture tells 1,000 of these words I keep tying I'm going to put my great love of pictures to use and try to remember this Era that is now ending. It was only one year. But I never knew a year could be so long, so hard, contain so much change, hurt so bad, teach so much, hold so many tears, bring so many people into my life, and take me from who I was to who I am.

A year ago....

It was an Era that began with endings, that started with a finish...

It was an era that involved exploring new, exciting things and places, and forced me to make some changes....

That taught me that beauty exists in many different forms, and that real beauty is being able to spot it...

It was an era that forced me to go out into the world as an individual for the first time, and learn who it is I really am...

It was an era where I learned how to face and experience loss and hurt as I've never felt before

Where I learned to put on a smile and more importantly to admit when I couldn't do it alone...

An era where I made plenty of mistakes, but learned from each step I took...

An Era where I said goodbye to so many, but at the same time had new friends settle into my heart...

An era where I was reminded what really matters in this life, and how we achieve that...

An era of moving, settling, and moving again, but through the moving learning to appreciate the place called home...

An era where I came full circle, yet will never made it back to where I started...

The girl I see in the mirror now doesn't recognise the one in pictures staring back. I've gained pounds, and shed tears. I've lost friends, and found ones I feel like I've always known. There were days I couldn't get out of bed and face life, but for every one of those there were seconds of laughter where I remembered why I keep going. There were classes and life experiences where I learned more than I will in any class. It was an era full of dreams in the day and the night that came true, of prayers cried, uttered, whispered, spoken, sung and thought that always were answered and of conversations with those here, and gone that were always heard. It was without a doubt the hardest year of my life, but because I made it through I will never be the same...

And, who knows what the next era will bring, but if it turns out to be twice as hard as the past one, I know that I can make it through...