2711, the distance in miles between Horsham, Pennsylvania, the town I was raised in, and Wenatchee, Washington, the town I now call home. From my first breath of Pacific Northwest air until just recently, I felt as if I was on my own personal roller coaster, experiencing the excitement of meeting new people and despair when I missed home. I went through twists and loops as I struggled to open myself up to a whole new way of life. During this time, I clung to Martin Luther King Jr.’s words of wisdom, “If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward” (King 1). To make the transition from a big city girl with a small family to a small city girl with a big family I followed King’s advice and always kept moving forward.
In order to understand how Martin Luther King Jr.’s quote explains my roller coaster ride I must explain my backstory. When I was only 4 years old my parents divorced. I learned at a very young age to be independent and rely on only one person, me. I lacked empathy and tended to isolate myself whenever possible. I found it very hard to express emotion and understand the emotions of others, as emotions, besides anger, were not
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Only four weeks after meeting Jeremy I knew I couldn’t live without him. I packed a bag and moved across the country to Wenatchee, Washington. It was immediately clear to me that Jeremy was brought up with a set of family values that were uncommon to me. I found his family to be rather bizarre and when he proposed to me -shortly after my move- I instantly questioned how I was going to find my place as a family member. It was evident through the outpour of emotions and displays of affection that each member cared very deeply for each other; another concept that was foreign to me. The only way for me to fit in, was to learn to break down the walls I began building at the age of