1 Year

The Sacred Grove, Palmyra NY

On the sixth day on fifth month of the two thousand and eleventh year at the seventh hour, a new door was open and I took the step through and I havent looked back. I have been through alot over the last year. There have been many ups and downs but I really started to find my self. I started to find what I was looking for. 

On May 6, 2011, I was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Alot led up to it and alot has happened since then. Feelings of joy and happiness and the feeling you never want to feel when you stare straight into the Grim Reaper's eyes. Friendships were made and others lost to time. Battles won and lost. Difficult changes that throw your life into a tail spin. Finding your calling in life. Stress that pushes us to the brink. Joy that brings tears to the eyes. 

I was baptized at the end of my second year at the University of Oklahoma and came back to Richmond not knowing what to expect. It was much better than I thought. Everything just fell right into place. Made many new friends in the ward in Midlothian. The summer was great. I made it up to Palmyra NY to see the church historical sights and saw for the first time the DC temple. It was amazing. Coming back to Norman was great. Just to be back with friends and share laughs was comforting. Made more friends and built stronger bonds. Life is never that easy though. A mutual agreement was made over the fall that I would not return to Norman in the spring. It is tough to put to words what I felt. Lost, surrounded, just gone. But from the darkness there is a light. You find who you truly are when you have nothing. You step up to the challenge. Over the last few months I have really found what I wanted to do. If it werent for those challenges, it may have been never been found. 

There have been events and people that have shaped my life and and I am thankful for them. My friends in Oklahoma have been truly like family to me. I would love to name but out of the respect of privacy I wont. If it werent for them out there, where would I be today. Bonds have been built over the last few years that time cannot wear down. They stand through time and eternity. Im thankful to my Heavenly Father for all that has happened over the last year and the years before. There is a rhyme and a reason to the way things happen. I went to Oklahoma for a reason and I returned to Virginia for a reason. Im starting to see the reasons. Im looking forward to what another year brings and even further into the future. My goals are to finish my meteorology degree Virginia Tech and to one day have a family. There is a lot to look forward to. 

When it seems tough don't give up, don't ever give up. 

Big time players step up in big time situations. 

Life is has been good and it will continue to be good.