Miraculous transformation

We all have satellites in our lives.  Exes, long lost friends, distant family members... these people orbit on the periphery of our lives, coming in close enough during the journey of their ellipse only once, maybe twice a year to witness who you are as compared to who you were.  If you're lucky, and if you're open to it, these moments when your paths cross can be a time for reflection and gratitude.

The last time we really spoke, I was living at home with my mother and awaiting my return to nursing school after a year-long hiatus.  I was working in the lab, and at a shop, and I was just learning to hoop, really.  I was turning 21, and while I had a few distant inklings, I had no clear picture of what I wanted my life to be.  We'd just broken up, after nearly two years of dating, and three years before that of very close friendship.  The last time we really spoke, I was losing my best friend.

Now to speak to him, and to tell him about getting married, trying to buy a farm, working on a cardiac floor, establishing my life as a self assured and happy young woman... I realize that I have transformed.  My core is the same, it has never really changed...  I still feel happiest in the middle of the forest, I'm still stubborn and silly and entirely vulnerable to all things cute and fuzzy.  But somehow over the past two and a half years, I've settled into my skin, and found a way to let my core "person hood" guide me through every thought and act of my waking life.  I've built a life that reflects and celebrates what I value and love.  It's not perfect.  It's not often neat.  But it's who I am.  I think I finally understand exactly who that is now.