Pieces of me

I was thinking tonight about who I am.
What influences have shaped the person I've become?
If any given aspect of my life would have been different, what kind of person would I be today?
How much of me came with me, and how much of me has been shaped by the life I've lived?

I don't know the answers to those questions, but I know that every experience, every aspect of my life, has changed me in some way. Losing a friend, and then losing another one. The feeling of being alone in a crowded room. My baptism. The day I sat on the curb and cried with my best friend. The time I learned to forgive someone I hated. The time I realized I hadn't truly forgiven someone that had hurt me. The day I ran away from home. Hundreds of young women activities where I felt alone, and the handful where I didn't anymore. The first day I walked through the junior high school, and the choice I made on the baseball field at lunch. The teacher who wrote in my yearbook and inspired me for the rest of my life. The time I made my first close friends, and the time I had to walk away. The time I stepped on a shoelace and fell in love. The night where my heart broke, and the night where I let it heal. The time where I drove away from a house and my whole world changed. Letting go of something very important to me. The evening on the tennis court where my whole life changed. The day that me and my guitar learned how to truly live. The time I got on an airplane and flew a million miles away, and the day I came back.

It's all a part of me. Moments, experiences, people, hundreds of people who have no idea of the impact they left on my life, but without their being there I wouldn't be the same. It's crazy and amazing and mind boggling all at the same time.

Who am I? What made me me? Who will I be in a year, two years, ten years? What else lies in store?

Viva la Vida