Friday, April 3, 2015

Breathe in, Breathe out: A year in the making


Hey there party people. It’s been a minute. Poppin’ back in for a little recap on life…

So there’s this pesky little app called Timehop…heard of it? It is the best, and it is the worst. It shows what you were doing exactly a year ago at any given time. A year ago I was dying eggs in a beautiful house in Nicaragua over looking the ocean, with two of god’s greatest blessings in my life (Caro and Sav…miss you though).

A year ago I was craving Minnesota more than I could have ever imagined possible, I was terribly homesick. And one year later, I am terribly homesick for that moment in time with people that took such good care of me.

“Home is not where you live, but where people understand you.”

It is safe to say that the past twelve months of my life have been the craziest yet. There have been quite a few curveballs, most of which I did not anticipate. I struck out a couple times, but I did also manage to hit a few home runs (naturally I make a baseball analogy…did you know I’m a Pettersen?)

A relationship ended in my life that a year ago I thought would last forever. I held my kitty cat and companion since age four in my arms as he left this earth. I was forced to seek medical attention for anxiety that I wish did not exist in my life. I could focus on the negative all I want, pity myself, blah blah blah….
           
But HELLO! The amount of homeruns that I’ve hit outweighs every single damn strikeout. I adopted the most incredible little creature, Bessie girl, who lights up my life every single day, homerun. I moved into 617 with my best friends, homerun. AJ and Emily moved home and Josh and Kristen had a beautiful baby girl, HOMERUN!!! (I guess I didn’t really hit the last two, but I sure am glad that they did.)
           
In 5 months I do not know where I will lay my head each night. But I have people across this country that understand me, who love me, and who are rooting for me. There is no one else I would rather have in my line up.

“Turns out not where, but who you're with that really matters.”

Central America, Minneapolis, Minnetonka. And beyond.

The day miss Adelle was born, the most perfect baby in the entire universe (I dare you to question me on that), is when my life took a grand turn. When my niece was born, and I met her for the first time, something in me changed that I could not ignore. I made a major decision that day that stemmed solely from a “gut feeling”. And that was one of the best decisions I could have made, I freed myself from shackles that I did not even know existed at the time, and this tiny little being, without the ability to even hold her own head up, helped me do that.
A year from now, I will think back to the morning of January 8th, when I was holding her tiny little body in my arms for the first time, and I will thank her.

And ten or fifteen years from now, when life’s pains might find her, I will thank her. For coming into this world and helping me realize my worth, and I will make sure she knows how much she is worth. I will tell her that she is a strong independent amazon women who can do whatever the hell she wants in this life, and she has an amazing mom and dad, and aunties, uncles, and grandparents, that will help her get there.

One year. Two years. Ten years. Twenty years. Breathe in, breathe out. Each year will hold new adventures, new failures. Strikeouts, singles, doubles, and home runs. Failing much more than succeeding, with a batting average I am not always proud of. There will be slumps, but thus is life…and I cannot imagine my life any other way.


I am a single 22-year-old woman with a bright, bright future ahead of me. Hear me roar!

Over and out,
HP