Every day in my life wherein I struggle is a blessing. It is like a bitter morsel lingering on my palate as a reminder of my flaws and how much room I have to grow. And LORDY it’s a lot. I’m young still, and have most of my life still ahead of me. But the most of my life that I know, up until now, was full of experience. I imagine there are tons of people who live their whole lives not seeing some of the things I’ve seen. My point is that I have endured hardship. I’m been unhappy, put-upon and lonely. I’ve felt misunderstood and I’ve been the butt of many jokes. I know what it is to be the under-dog. I made a choice to stop suffering at the hands of others opinions of me. If I believed everything people said about me, then I never would have had the courage to do anything with my life.

Here I am, nearly 30, finally coming into my own, seeing the world, experiencing life in a positive way. I’ve attempted to surgically remove the dark and dangerous habits in my life that festered and damaged my soul. I am not perfect. I am not even close. I make bad choices still, and I say the wrong things still. But I own those choices and I will not apologize for being me. I’m loud. I have opinions. I desire passionate conversations with intelligent people. If you want to be my friend, if you want to share social situations with me, then you have to accept me. Accept ME. I will endeavor to do the same for you.