Mia's Journey

She now had a very clear understanding of her role in her family and she was ready, even eager, to assume her full responsibility as she began the next chapter in her own book of life.  As the time drew shorter, leaving home was not something that Mia viewed as an escape as she had just one year before.  She thought of her dad and was glad they had mended their relationship.  She would miss him terribly and knew he would miss her just as much.  She thought of her mother and knew she would miss her more than she had ever imagined.  She now understood that any mistakes, real or imagined, her mom had made were made out of love.  When the time came to leave her parent’s home, she would take with her the memories of the good times and she would forgive and leave behind, the times that were not so good. 

If she had learned one thing over the past year it was that growing up actually had little to do with the passing of years and strangely enough, reaching eighteen didn’t suddenly make you an adult.  No, growing up really only “happens” when you begin to understand and accept others for who they are and stop blaming them for not being who you wish they were.  It’s about learning to love family and friends because they deserve to be loved.  No one in this world is perfect and accepting this truth is to understand that none of us have any right to judge others.  We all just do the best we can and that should be good enough for those who truly love us. 

Mia took a deep breath as she reviewed her notes and thought to herself, the idea of growing up sounds so simple, as if it’s a physical change when in fact, growing up is mostly a change of the mind, of the heart and of the spirit.  She had worked hard on her speech because she wanted to share these valuable life lessons she had learned over the last year with her classmates.  So much had happened over the last year and Mia felt she had been forced to grow up by fate and circumstance.  

In many ways, she was older than most of her friends, but as sad and heartbreaking as some of the experiences Mia had suffered, she knew that each event had helped to shape and mold her into the young woman she was today.  The happiness and good times she had shared had more than balanced out the sadness.  She was excited about graduation because she now knew that it was not an ending, it was a beginning!  It was the appropriate time and place to begin the rest of her life and she ready for that life!