I know this much is true

Well it's the new year, so I guess it's only natural to look back on your life and contemplate. There are people out there with blogs that are filled with amazing pictures and wonderful exotic places from all over the world. My blog can not compare to those. I don't have amazing stories about the exotic places I've been or the things I've bought. But I do have a story.

I won't forget the place I come from

I was born in New Zealand to Tony and Judith in 1984, when I arrived I had an older brother already waiting for me and then 4 years later my younger brother joined us too. I had a really great life when I was young, I don't think I realized then just how good I had it. When I was 12 my parents decided to end their marriage. Like any child of divorce will tell you, my world fell apart. A few months after my mum left my dad met someone and she moved in with us. My step-mum and I had problems the minute we met and I'm sad to say that they never got solved.

When I was 15 my mum met a guy and moved to Australia with him. It doesn't matter if you're 5, 15 or 25, you can always feel abandoned by your parents. I moved in with my dad and step-mum and we all tried as best as we could to get along. When I turned 18 I guess we'd all grown tired of trying because my dad told me that he was moving to a new house and I couldn't come with them. My mum had moved back to NZ by this point so I moved into a one-bedroom apartment with her and we worked hard at fixing our relationship. For a year I worked hard at forgiving my parents.

Karina and I

By the time I turned 19 I felt that I needed something else in my life, I didn't know what it was but I just knew I had to go find it. After meeting my best friend Karina at University I finally felt like something good was happening. For a year we had a lot of fun skipping class and dreaming about Hollywood. However, after one year she had to go back to Canada. I was really upset but we planned for me to come and visit her that year. In early 2004 a series of events made me re-think my plans and it was then that I decided to move to Canada for a year.

When I landed in Vancouver Karina was waiting for me and we spent the next two months traveling around BC and LA. When Karina went to Kamloops in September 2004 I was officially alone.

Alex and Aman

2005 was a great year. I ended up managing a restaurant and met great friends including Alex, Aman and Mason who became my partners in crime every weekend. After many months of denial I finally realised that I was falling in love with Alex, only I happened to realise it 2 months before I had to leave. When it came time to leave Canada I was a wreck. Everything I'd always wanted was in Vancouver and everything I'd run from was waiting for me in NZ.

Those four months in NZ were the hardest but most important months of my life. I worked in a bar to save money to get to Montreal where Alex was waiting for me. My dad and I worked hard at dealing through everything that had happened and I'm glad we did.

Concordia University

In November 2005 I moved back to Canada. For the first time in my life I was running towards something instead of running away. I came in on a 6 months visitors visa and had no plan on how I was going to stay but just knew that somehow I'd make it happen. In January 2006 I applied to Concordia University and got accepted. I've already completed a semester at Concordia and I love doing a French degree. This April Alex and I will celebrate our 2 year anniversary.

The love of my life, Alex

I still feel like there's so much more to do but I also feel proud of what I've accomplished. I've always been surrounded by friends whose parents paid for everything and for a long time I was jealous of them. But when I look back on the last few years I'm so glad that I didn't have anyone helping me. I would not have been able to get here if I didn't have to fight for it like I did. And now that I'm here I feel blessed. Blessed that I have to work a lot to pay for school and rent, blessed that I can't just go out and buy the things I want, blessed that I have to work hard for the things I want. I feel blessed because I know now that I have the strength to go wherever I want and do whatever I want. Maybe someone is reading this blog and is in a place like I was when I was 12 or 15 or 18 and I just want them to know, it doesn't matter if you don't have much money, as long as you have passion and determination then you're richer than you can imagine.