twenty three. 23. veinte tres, vigniti tres. twenty fucking three.

It's a milestone. Something I was almost certain I'd never be. The last year of my life is something that, sitting here now, almost seems like something I watched on a bad TV show. One of those reruns AFTER M.A.S.H but before the infomercials take hold. It's been tough, I'll admit it. There were points that I was positive tomorrow would be a day I would never see.

What have I learned? What have I taken away from this last year? I don't know and I can't really put it into words. I guess I'll try though. The most important thing I've learned in the last year, and am still learning, is that life goes on. Life never ceases because it seems that it can't get worse. If we lived our lives this way we'd never know the inherent beauty of triumph over adversity. The feeling that we lived through it, we made it, it may have seemed like there was nothing left to give but we kept breathing and through some miracle, here we are. Another thing that's been important for me over this last year is finding the beauty in everyday life. Finding that one thing that makes you smile, makes you so happy it almost brings you to tears. You know what, fuck it. Finding that one thing that actually moves you to tears. Be it, a sunset, an overwhelming song, watching people be nice to each other for a change. Whatever it is to you, find it.

Family. I never truly understood what family meant to me until this last year. I know this sounds terrible, and it is, but I never fully grasped how important family is to the human soul; how these people around me are imperative to my happiness. I'll never understand how I thought I'd be alright without them. I'll never be able to make it another day without them again though. That's a certainty.

My final thought, because I don't want to keep writing this pseudo-motivational garbage, is this: Never waiver. Never give in. Never fail to see the world for exactly what it is. Never fail to see each new day for what it is. A new day. Another chance.

the end.