Almost a Year

 Today I can't help thinking about how fast a year can go by these days. To really stop and think about where  I was a year ago and where I am now is truly remarkable. Example:
Today's date is June 29, 2011
 I have a job I enjoy that provides me with benefits and a flexible work schedule. I'm enrolled for school in August to study something I've always loved, but had neglected till recently. I have good friends; the kind I know I can count on to be there for years to come, despite distance or frequency of visits. I have a boyfriend I know really knows me, and cares about me. I can't tell you how wonderful it feels to be with someone who loves you, not the image of you they have built up in their minds. My boyfriend was my best friend when I first moved away from home. He helped me deal with missing my family, with feeling alone. He gave me a solid friendship I could count on, and helped me meet new friends, genuine people with good hearts. We were both kids missing our homes back then. It was a comfort to both of us to have good friends in a new town.
 Today he still is my best friend. He knows me better than almost anyone, and we've been together for almost a year now. I love his family, and I'm glad I get to spend time with them. And I love him. In this world, you can't really ask for more. When almost everything comes with a price tag these days, you have to hold on to the free things you can find.
 I have a supportive family. I know I'll never be expected to be anything more than myself with my family, and despite any problems we've had or will have, I'm lucky to have a family that knows blood runs thicker than water.

June 29, 2010
 I had a job I loved, but it didn't offer benefits, and sucked the energy out of me by the end of everyday, even though I loved my boss and the kids I taught very much. I wasn't going to school and didn't have a foreseeable plan to go back. I was sick all the time, stressed to the max, and unappreciated. I didn't have a home of my own; just a back bedroom in someone else's house. I felt disconnected from my friends and family. I was unhappy. I had a husband who was more of a child than a partner, who expected me to do all the work, who didn't want to move out of his mommy and daddy's house, who didn't want to be responsible. He was in love with an image of me he had built up over the previous two years in his mind, and if ever a crack showed in this iconic image of me he had envisioned, then I was sick and twisted and something was clearly wrong with me, because what did I have to be stressed about? Life was supposed to be good. We were a "family".
   I was married a year ago today.
 I was married, and the most miserably unhappy person I knew. I had isolated all the people who really cared about me. I put on a shiny fake smile and pretended my way through the days, but at night, when I laid down sick, tired and alone, I cried. I cried myself to sleep from the sheer hopelessness of my life. I was in church two to three times a week, but I didn't feel God. I knew he was there, but I couldn't explain why I felt so far from him. I tried to talk to people around me about it, but found I couldn't without telling them how unhappy I was in my life. So I repressed it. I was too scared to tell anyone I had been wrong.

What followed in the months after isn't a pretty story. But it's been almost a year, and when I look back, I see the difference in myself and my life, and I am glad to say I survived it.
I survived depression, I survived slander and the hatred of others. And really, that's everyone.
We are all survivors. Survivors of our own situations. Overcomers of our own obstacles. Truly, there is nothing set before us that we can not overcome. And every time we can look back and say "Wow, that was almost a year ago" is another triumph. And I'll take that any day.

So where were you s year ago? What situations you felt were impossible have you survived? Think about, and take a minute to be thankful for it. Because those are the things that shape us into better, stronger people. Those situations will always show you what you can make of yourself in almost a year.