Beautiful Mistakes

My halo cracked, my wings fell off my back and I was staring into the most disappointed eyes I had seen in all of my 17 years of life. It was the day my parents found out that their "little angel" was in fact no angel at all... I may have been an "angel" when it came to sports and when it came to grades yet for the matters that seemed to mean the most to my parents, I did things that I would say your "typical" teenager does and then hides from the two people that you never want to hear those words come out, "I am not mad at you I am disappointed." The next words that came out of my mom's mouth where this, "Do you regret anything?" I looked at them and said this, "Mom and Dad I don't regret anything at all actually... I have learned from it though." My mom wasn't even sure what to say to me at that point.


It was that day that I started to learn this lesson. Everything I have ever experienced in my life is what has made me into the person I currently am. Regretting things in the past is like saying I don't like who I have turned out to be today and I personally love the me I get to share with this world.


I used to say there was one thing I regretted doing. Then as time went on I realized, I in fact was more appreciative of this than almost any other mistake I made. It was the awfulness of my actions that I felt afterward that has made it impossible for me to ever do that to someone again.


I have come across so many people in my life that if most people knew all of the past's of those people they wouldn't look at them the same. I, on the other hand, want to take a trip back into the past's of those people to see what has made these people into the beautiful person they are today.


One person in particular in my life today that I personally watched hit rock bottom. This rock bottom is the one that you can even think about, it is the kind of rock bottom that most people can't fathom up because it is so far down. I know personally though that without this rock bottom she wouldn't be the beautiful woman that she is today.


There is also a man that I got to experience only the beautiful person he had become. While others saw the change in him and I slowly found out the many things that made him who he was today. I began to realize that what most people see as a "bad" broken past, I see it as a puzzle of their life that is simply being put together that makes them who they are. I have even more recently been in someone's life who I so badly want to ask so many questions about his past because I want to know all the in's and out's of what has made him into such a beautiful person.


As for my parents, they truly have been accepting of me and all of us kids no matter the many things we have put them through. I am sure at times I may have disappointed them and I know that I have also made them proud of me. I will say this though, it is because they have always allowed me to be the person I want to be that I have turned out to be who I am today.


So the reason for me writing this blog is because I want people to know that the past is not something to frown upon, even if it is viewed as "bad." The past is something to truly appreciate and learn from. That is the beautiful thing about mistakes, it's the lessons that we learn from them. P!nk has a song names Crystal Ball and in the song my favorite line is

"I am learning to be brave in my beautiful mistakes"

I'll ask you this, how can we ever appreciate the people that we love in life without accepting all those things that have made them into who they are today?

Those few steps...

Lets be honest here...

I stood for an hour in high heels, walked down three flights of stairs and sat in a chair for three and a half hours.... then in the moments walking towards that stage I thought to myself this is it. This is the moment I have waited for, for six years. I climbed five steps handing off my name card and heard "DreAnn Story." Those few steps meant so much. Those steps represented all the crazy moments that I would throw my papers, cry, laugh, smile, be proud of myself, feel like a complete failure, the first D I have ever received, the day I was told what an amazing lawyer I would make, every bit of knowledge I obtained, midterms, finals, papers and most of all the hard work and dedication it took to take those few steps. Walking down that red carpet back to my seat I thought holy crap I did it, wait people are staring, the smile is still there ok DreAnn watch your step... Holy Cow DreAnn look what you just did!!

There has been so many moments in life I doubted myself and so many times I wished for others to be proud of me. On Saturday though the one person that needed to be the proudest of me finally was. That person was me... I am the only person who truly knows all the ins and outs of what that degree actually entitles. This is also a huge check off the good ole bucket list for me! I am waiting for grades to see if I get to check off another one as well.

Mom and dad I want to say thank you for always believing in me and all of my crazy and wild dreams. All of my brothers and sisters and my whole family thank you for all that you have done for me. Danyl thank you so much for everything this past year and a half we have truly embarked on a whole new life and I know you are a huge part of why I finished strong this past year. To all my lovely friends for always supporting me. And Jeff, while I am sure you were hanging out up there watching, I am sure you understand how mad I am you weren't there! So thank you for all the support and pushing to make sure I made it to Saturday. To everyone who has ever helped me through this fabulous chapter in my life... Thank you I appreciate it more then I can ever express!

Now for the question of what is next? There are a lot of next's for me now. I plan to get in great shape and I mean great running shape YUCK... I get to do a few things to prepare myself to be the best Police Officer Las Vegas has ever had ;) LSAT may just be taken to see where I stand. A 2nd job may be happening... and time lots of time for me and all the people that I haven't been able to do the things I have set aside until now. SKYDIVING!! On my birthday I plan to do it. This was one of my fabulous gifts I received on Saturday. This is also #1 on my bucket list! So I will leave you with this

The future opens up before you
like a new book...
waiting for you
to commit to its pages
the story only you can write.

So until the next time of me sharing one of the pages I hope you enjoy! And please to any of you who are debating on going to school, do it! I promise it is worth every bit of this!

In Love with this thing we call life…

Love what is it…

I recently started to read a book called “The Day I Shot Cupid.” The book not only contains some of my favorite quotes it also contains a study that has truly touched my heart.

http://justbeingme1.blogspot.com/2009/01/what-does-love-mean.html

My three favorite…

"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth." Billy - age 4

"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." Karen - age 7

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen." Bobby - age 7

While reading this book, written by Jennifer Love Hewitt, she calls herself a love-aholic. The moment I read that I thought to myself, that is ME! I am a love-aholic. I don’t just mean the kind of love that is shared intimately between you and a partner, I am talking about the love that I have for all sorts of things in life. Here is something I wrote one day to show a few things I do indeed love.

♥ The things I can say I love the most… ♥ laughing even if it is through tears, ♥ smiling even at random strangers, ♥ running out in the rain even if my hair gets curly, ♥ loving even if I get hurt, ♥ being an auntie even when I get to discipline, ♥ being a sister even when I put myself second, ♥ going to school even though I should own stock in Rockstar, ♥ writing things on my bucket list and checking them off even if some seem impossible, ♥ being a friend even if that person once betrayed me, ♥ my pure randomness even if no one in this world gets it, ♥ belonging to a family even though some think we are crazy, ♥ being honest even when people don’t want to hear it and ♥ most of all taking risks even when I don’t have the wings to jump off the cliff. ♥

I have learned that the only kind of love I know how to give is with all of me included. I don’t know how to hold back. When I love something I give it my all, even if it has ended in heartbreak, I feel that one time it will all be worth it. Each one of those heartbreaks will be what leads me to that kind of love someday (the intimate kind of course). I love it all, every bit of life and everyone who is in my life is there for a reason, a season or a lifetime. So you see this is why my blog is called, “In Love with This Thing We Call Life.”

I, DreAnn Story, am a Love-aholic and I am stating it to the public for all to know!