Welcome to Part II of “Tidbits of Me.” You can see my first post “1 of 9” here to catch up on the beginning of the story.
I take “formative” to be the time when you are becoming you. Going through middle school and high school is no easy task, and starting into college and on my own for my first time ever was even scarier! Somehow all of these crazy years helped to shape me into the person I am today.
In middle school, I was really innocent and naive. I think much of that came from being homeschooled through my elementary years. I remember my mom trying to prepare me for “real” school. We went and got a hair cut where my long locks were cut into a cute shorter bob. I remember her pulling me into her room (where all deep talks happened) and asking me what I thought a music video was. I naturally said Mary Poppins. No joke. I had no idea what MTV was at that time. In some ways, I look back and love that I was allowed to be a kid and missed a lot of harsh stuff by being home schooled.
Going into high school I became a little more confident in who I was and where I came from. I went to Roswell High and got involved with the swim team and golf team. I played on the golf team all four years and had a blast with it. Since my dad is a landscape architect, specializing in golf course design, we got to play on a lot of his courses for free! For all you golfers out there, you know that’s amazing! I was really involved in my church youth group as well all through high school. I had the steady boyfriend, went on mission trips, and had a great group of girl friends. Some of who are still my close friends today!
I had a hard time deciding on college. I struggled with wanting to go to a big college like my boyfriend and close friends, but then also needed to stay in state (and secretly I wanted to stay close to home). As a close, big family I left for college with a four-year old brother still at home. I didn’t want him to know me like a distant aunt. I decided on Toccoa Falls Bible College in North Georgia.
I went to Toccoa for a year and from there took a semester off, came home to a community college, went back for a semester, took another semester off, and ended up finally graduating from Kennesaw State with a degree in Early Education in the fall of 2006. I was one of those five-year college students, but more on that later.
I think all of my back and forth with college was part of me figuring out who I was.
I had been so close to my family and then I had a safe, good group of friends through out high school. College was the first I was on my own and figuring out who I was and who I ultimately wanted to be. All these college transfers, dealing with life at home, different groups of friends, and several different boyfriends helped me come into myself. One of the greatest things I did was go out west in the midst of this all and work on a ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming for a summer. Pulling away from everything and everyone I knew was one of the scariest decisions I ever made. Once I settled in though, it opened up space for me to understand me. That was a time and an experience I still rave about today, almost ten years later.
Coming home from the ranch, I felt alive and confident in who God made me to be. I was tired and exhausted of drama with boys and trying to figure out what I thought was best for me. I decide to stay home for that semester and just work, pray, and seek what God had for me…which ultimately led to me to those Early Bliss Years. Come back next Monday to hear Part III of my story.
Update: Click on the following link to be directly taken to the next post in this series.