Maya Angelou who is a great writer possesses many meaningful quotes but one that truly inspires my life the most is “My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style”. What this means to me is some of us live day to day as we should while others are in fear about what they are going to encounter next. At times, I sit and ask myself should I be on edge like the ones who are in fear or should I wait for life to throw lemons at me as they do at the ones who live day to day. It is something interesting to meditate on and often takes me back to my childhood where I can truly relate to this. For me growing up in Hillside, New Jersey my young mind did not have any knowledge of the bad in the world or at least my parents made sure I did not experience it. My parents did have hard times but young me of course did not know. I did karate, took swimming lessons, and even partaken in girl scouts. They did everything they could to help me enjoy my childhood even if it was a simple trip to the park, toys r us, or Chuck E Cheese. The little things really mattered the most. Let’s fast forward a little to when I was 12 and my parents decided to move to Georgia. This is the age where I had to restart my life, gain chores, and experience things differently. Going from Jersey to Georgia I left an environment that I was comfortable with and closer to family for a place that was strange and very unfamiliar to