God.

Disclaimer: 

Religion is something that is considered quite controversial in today's society. This is my personal experience with my religion, please don't be offended. 

 I have always been raised in a Christian family. I have always been encouraged to pray. I recited Bible verses as a child. I knew hyms by heart, and so on. However, my family was never one to go to church every Sunday. We went to church on Easter and Christmas, like a lot of people do, but that was it. I knew of God, but I definitely didn't know God. In middle school and my freshman year I strayed even more away from religion. I had a very tough time in middle school and my freshman year, even seeing a therapist for depression. I would pray every night, but quickly became discouraged because God didn't answer my prayers as quickly as I wanted to. I began to become hopeless. I swore that God didn't care about me, that He abandoned me, and that I was alone. 

 Christmas of my freshman year, I began recieving texts from people that went to the church I belong to. Someone had put me on the prayer request list at church. I asked my mom if she did, she hadn't. Neither had dad. No one seemed to know who did it. The following Sunday, I asked my family to go to church with me. That was the start of the best chain of events that could happen to me. 

 Now I go to church every Sunday. God is the center of my life. He is my whole life. I just wanted to say thank you, to whoever put me on that list, you saved me. 

Lucky.

 Have you ever thought about how amazing it is to be alive? I don't mean that in a cheesy, you only live once kind of way, or a judgmental kind of way. (Like those people when you complain about your bad day remind you someone has it worse than you. I get it. Doesn't mean mine didn't suck.)  But really, we are LUCKY. The universe is huge. Vast. Infinite. We don't even know the extent of the universe. There are 7 billion people in this world, and you are one of them. There are around 100,000 genes in the human genome, and yours came together just right to produce what we know as you. You wouldn't exist without your parents--both of them. Or their parents. Or grandparents. Or great grandparents. The stars had aligned just right for them to meet, and thank God for that! You are made up of millions of atoms. Which are made up of something even smaller, quarks. Your body functions 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Your heart pumps blood throughout your body hundreds of times a day. Your brain is sending a mass amount of synapses to allow you to read this. You are perfect. You are designed in His image. You are a masterpiece. You are lucky. I don't mean for this to sound sappy, but you really are blessed. God wanted to give you a chance to live on this earth. The second greatest gift to you, other than Heaven. You are 1 in 7 billion. 1 in a 100,000 combinations. You were wonderfully and fearfully made. Never forget that life runs out. It's an hourglass super glued to the table, with the sand running through it faster than we know. All too soon we will just be footprints on the sands of time. You are lucky. You are an amazing creation. You are you-- the best you in the world, and the best you that ever will be. 

Beauty.

In honor of the Miss America Pageant, I'm about to blog about something seemingly controversial, outward beauty. Every day you hear something in the media about so and so gaining weight, or so and so being too skinny, nowadays it seems like everyone is criticized. Not only are we criticized by society, but GIRLS, WE CRITICIZE EACH OTHER. Are you serious? I constantly hear "blonde girls are better than brunette girls." Or "Curvy girls are better than skinny girls." Or, "tan girls are better than pale girls." We, as young women should be SUPPORTING each other and encouraging our beauty. Of course, you hear the classic "Inner beauty is what counts." Which is true, inner beauty makes you beautiful. But sometimes, we want to be considered outwardly beautiful. As superficial as that may seem, I think that's okay. We have the right to be able to want to be considered attractive. I get so sad overhearing the comments girls make about each other. I can't walk through my high school without being called fat at least once a week. Not by someone traditionally mean, or traditionally a bully, but by a GIRL. A girl. Are you kidding me? Why do we feel the need as girls to tear others confidence down to build ours up. We need to start supporting each other. Girls, you are all beautiful. Whether someone can see it or not is THEIR fault. Not yours. 

Soulmates.

It is said that humans originally consisted of four arms, four legs, and a single heart,but Zeus fearing their power,split them all in half, condemning them to spend their lives searching for their other half. This is what we know as soul mates. Contrary to the popular belief, I don't believe your soulmate is the person you say your "I Do's" to at the alter. I might be the only person in the whole world who believes this, but I believe your soulmate is your best friend. Your closest friend. The one that can complete your sentences, and knows how your heart feels without a single world. They are the friend that you can go ages without seeing and everything will be normal...although we never wait that long. They're the person we talk to everyday. The person who you can sit in complete silence with. The person who knows every secret, even the dark ones you keep deep down in the locked cellar of your heart. While everyone believes soulmates to be associated with romantic love, I believe it to be associated with Platonic love. (Platonic love is a chaste and strong type of love that is non-sexual.) Although marriages seem to end quite frequently over a simple fight, how many fights do you seem to have with your best friend only for them to always be by your side? With divorce rate at the all time high,long term marriage seems to be a rarity. For me, my best friend knows everything about me. We don't even have to say I love you, yet I know it's implied. She lives nowhere near me but I'm closer to her than ever. Someone who completes you. That's what a soulmate is. 

Growing up.

It seems our whole lives we look forward to the future. Getting older. Each year after a birthday passes we wait for the next birthday, never focusing on the goodness this age will bring us. After Christmas passes we wait for the next one. After we enter middle school we anticipate high school. After we enter high school, we daydream about college. When we're little girls we dream about prom, but when we get go prom we begin dreaming about our wedding. Why? Why are we so insatiable?  I think we as human inevitably are designed to look forward to the future, prepare for what's ahead. Which, in theory, preparedness helps ensure our survival. But,is that really living? Enjoy your birthdays. Enjoy your Christmases. Enjoy prom. But, enjoy each day. Enjoy each breath that you're allowed on this earth. Life is a present, and it seems we are too often focused more on the wrapping, than what's actually inside. 

Romance.

ro·mance

rōˈmans,ˈrōˌmans/

Noun 

A feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love. 

Ahh, romance. Something sought after day after day year after year. But, what is romance anyway? Mystery, in its formal definition. But, is that really romance? To a 3 year old girl, romance may be a boy sharing his brand new pack of 64 crayons with her. To the 16 year old, romance may be the person who they lost their utmost precious gift to, their virginity, in the back of their car. To the grad student, romance may be dinner and a movie. To the 40 year old, romance may be splitting the dinner duty every other night. But, the big question is, how do we find romance? This to is found in different ways. To the 3 year old, it may be on the playground. To the 16 year old, it may be their junior prom. To the grad student, it may be in their new job. To the 40 year old, it may be the house they grew up in.  To the lost, to the confused, to the soulless, to the searching, to the lonely, to the broken, to the unlucky, to everyone like me, romance may be the anonymity, the distance, the wanderlust that's found in some place like New York City. Romance. Different for everyone. Take it at your own pace. It's what you make it. 

Southern State of Mind.

I've always been a Southern girl. Raised on yes ma'ams and yes sirs and ate at the table with cloth napkins every night. Now, for those who weren't raised in the South, the South is a special kind of place. The only place that stays true to its down home roots and classic traditions. A small, Southern town was even more "backwards"to today's society. Little things about the south irritate me. I hate the close mindedness that a lot of you have come to know the South by. But, there are a lot of magical things about the South. Tea is sweet and people are sweeter. You can't go a day without hearing a "Bless Her/His/Your Heart."Church is embedded in a Southern girl's blood, and you won't find a single Southern girl that doesn't have her Daddy wrapped around her finger. She argues with her mama, but at the end of the day she's exactly like her. The Southern girl is fiercely independent, sometimes to her own detriment. The Southern girl thinks with her heart instead of her mind. The Southern girl knows  every word to Amazing Grace and Ring of Fire. The Southern girl loves the USA, almost as much as she loves her family, and a little more than she loves football. The Southern girl can't pass a Lilly Pulitzer without at least sticking her head in. The Southern girl ALWAYS has a set of pearls, usually passed down by generations. The Southern girl is me. It's who I am. Forever embedded into my blood, entwined into my DNA. And how lucky am I to be that way?