I've come a long way.

I remember when I was a suicidal 16 year old with an abusive boyfriend and horrible homelife, waiting to be rescued.

It just so happens that my current boyfriend was the one who saved my life, and that was in late December of 1997. January 13, 1998 was when he and I (and another friend of ours) moved out of our parent's houses and into an apartment our the local town.

I became a social person, a huge pot head, and I finally came out of my shell.

... but that experience wasn't enough to prepare me for stepping out of the Go Station in Toronto and looking up at the biggest buildings I'd ever seen.

I was 18 years old and going to the University of Waterloo, and I had no idea what was going on. Suddenly I knew no one, there were people of different colours and backgrounds (seriously, small town Nova Scotia is all white), and I was overwhelmed, to say the least.

After I got over that culture shock, I was confident until I moved to Miami to become an aupair for billionaires. It was my first time out of the country, and I thought that going to the movies alone was a big deal.

Five months after that, I bought a ticket to London Heathrow for $713, and I was suddenly thrust across the Atlantic Ocean, alone.

Nearly two months, five different countries, I was 20 years old.

Then I was wooshed back over the Atlantic and was an aupair in Luxembourg (and eating too much fresh mozzeralla cheese and getting fat).

At age 21, I went to school and at the same time, had the healthiest relationship of my life. I graduated second in my class, and got my honours diploma wearing pigtails, a lip ring, and rockin' boots to the dismay of my private school.

Age 22, I met him and we went on a road trip through a dozen states and provinces. Although the trip only lasted eight days, it was by far the most important thing of the whole year.

And now, age 23. I'm living and working in Africa. I've got plans for the future (including my third trip around Europe and then moving to a province where I've never been). I've got a boyfriend who loves me, and that alone makes my life feel happier.

So, yeah. I've come a long way, if I do say so myself. Not to brag or anything. I'm the most travelled girl from Nova Scotia I know.

Other things I want to do:

Learn to ride and own a motorcycle
Fix up a farmhouse
Have me some babies (but not for a couple more years)
Get me a hubby (could happen sooner than my mom'd like)
Travel to Portugal, Venice, and around the UK in search of abandoned castles
Start a hip vegetarian restaurant
Learn how to play the guitar
Beat The Boy in Cribbage three times in a row
Quit smoking
Learn PHP
Go to New Zealand
Learn yoga
Learn how to meditate
Learn how to refinish furniture

Oh... there are so many things. It's only just begun.