10 years ago...

10 years ago today I was only 8 years old, sitting in a classroom full of people I had only met at the beginning of that school year. Except for one person. Both of us had transfered to the same school from the same old school. We knew we'd seen eachother but weren't sure where from. Our friendship grew tremendously that year, spending most of our time outside of school together.. Only for it to end at the end of 7th grade, 4 or 5 years later (more on that later.) Up until the end of 5th grade, things where fine, until my 5th grade teacher mentioned to my father (they had worked together previously) that she knew someone who could cut curly hair. My Dad was willing to do anything to try and get me interested in 'taking care' of my hair, so he agreed and paid her price. It was a small, locally owned salon, but on the inside it looked huge! I wish my hair had come out looking as good as everyone thought it would. Well, I think I was the only one that didn't like it. But only because I was the only one who had to live with it. My hair got cut to about 2.5 inches long, and it was absolutely terrible! A nicname I was so greatfully given for 6th and 7th grade was Afro Monkey. Yeah, whatever. Back then I barely had friends, and had an even less amount of self-esteem. In 7th grade, I lost all the 'friends' I thought I had, and wouldn't you guess, because of a boy. Let's just say he was 'popular' and I wasn't.. Thank god they built the new crap-hole for everyone I hated to go to, so I could go somewhere else to try a new start. Lucky for me, it worked. By 8th grade my hair was back down passed my shoulder blades, and thanks to another one of my dad's previous coworkers, I got my hair straightened for the first time. I was so amazed at the sight, I cried. Try having hair as kinky and curly as mine, and watch it go from curly, to straight. It leaves you speechless.



Starting high school, I was nervous. I didn't know anybody except for a few people from 8th grade and a few people from 1st and 2nd grade. Nobody from either group of people talked to me anymore. But that was ok, because I made friends quickly. It was weird having so many people around me at once, but I got used to it. I also had to get used to some people in some of my classes not being the same age as me. Freshman year was blah; uneventful for me. Sophomore year was a little more interesting because I got to take Welding at Bollman TEC. I was one girl out of a grand total of... 3. But it was cool. The guys where mostly nice, and made it a fun class. All three of us girls went to Northglenn, but I was only friends with one of them. And the two of us didn't really like the other girl. She had her moments, but that's about it. Junior year was better because I got to take another class at Bollman, Auto Tech. At this point in my life, I wanted to go to DADC and be an auto mechanic. I was so bent on this idea, I wouldn't even let myself talk me out of it, and it (sadly) took a breakup to make me realize that this wasn't what I wanted to do with my life. A few weeks before Christmas I got with another student in my auto class, Chris. We where together a little over a month, but when it ended, things got really bad. I was upset, of course, and people where out to protect me. My 'brother' cornered him in the hall and another friend of mine had to hold him back. (Hearing them tell me this after the fact was hilarious!) I didn't want to talk to anyone so I went into the bathroom. Not long after, he went into the girls bathroom... It was sweet at the time, but whatever. We eventually stopped talking and he stopped going to the class. I completely lost interest in the class and finally the teacher got fed up with me. He pulled me into his office one day and just started talking to me about Chris. I cried because, one, I wasn't expecting him to talk about Chris, and two, it was true. His exact words where, "You used to be so interested in this class. When you and Chris broke up, everything went to shit."

Also during my junior year I had a job at a Great Clips and, after observing the stylists, figured out that cosmetology was what I really wanted to do (or 1 of 3 things...). I want to do cosmetology because I know the feeling of getting out of that chair, lookin in the mirror and saying, "Damn. I look good." I want to help people feel better about themselves and help them look their best. The other 2 things I want to do in my life are bartending and sexology. After going to cosmetology school, I'll get a job at a salon and then go to bartending college. After I graduate from there, I'll either pick one, or maybe do both for extra money, and save up for sexology. That's the expensive one.

Senior year. Wow. What a freakin ride through hell this has been. But it will all be worth it when I walk across that stage in 5 days and counting... Just to name some of the things that made this year hell, there's the herpes, the curfew, the seperations from my fiance and not being able to meet my neice Karissa before her life was taken.. but the list goes on.
I met my fiance through a friend of both of ours while I was still with someone. There was an instant attraction between us, and neither of us could ignore it. I ended it with the person I was with, and I haven't been with anyone else since August 17, 2007. A week and a month exactly into our relationship was the best and worst days of my life. I'll tell you in the order I found out. After school I went to my doctors appointment. I walked out knowing that I had the life-long STD, Genital Herpes. When I told my boyfriend, eventhough we hadn't confirmed it for him yet (and still haven't), he was freaked out. When I was dropped off in front of his house by a friend, he came charging off his porch as if to kill someone. But then he saw it was me and felt a little better. That night we sat on his front porch talking and crying. When we finally decided to leave, we walked the backway through his neighborhood towards a dirt path. When it came time for us to leave eachother, i thought we where just going to kiss goodnight. But instead, I got a kiss and a question: "Will you marry me?" Of course, I said yes!

We have seperated a couple times, but for no longer than 24 hours. He means the world to me, and after the first time we seperated, I wanted to let him come back to me. He did, and that was enough to prove to me that he was worth my fight and worth my love. I have not given up, and I never will. Trust people when they tell you relationships aren't easy.

10 years from now...
In the next ten years I will become lawfully married, hopefully have a child or 2, at least be on the road to a cure for herpes, have two-thirds of my schooling done, and get my multiple-career plans goin'!