Who is she {PART ONE}

The place I called home for the first 17 years of my life was a little town in Nova Scotia, Canada. The best part about the town is this...

Not really, but it is the only thing Oxford is known for. Every time I go anywhere this is how a conversation goes:

Stranger-"where are you from?"

Me-"oh, Oxford, NS."

Stranger-"OHHHHH, The place with the big blueberry?"

Me-"yeah, that's it"

Stranger-"You must LOVEE blueberries".

Me-*eye roll* "actually, no, I hate them."

Person then gasps in disgust. 

It is indeed true, I hate blueberries. I grew up in a town were everything was blueberries. EVERYTHING. After picking them as a kid, I hate them. And no I cannot get you fresh blueberries when I go home. You can buy them frozen in the freezer section labeled "Oxford blueberries" for much cheaper than me getting them. *End of rant on blueberries*

Besides the gross awesome blueberries in Oxford there really isn't anything else it is known for. When I was growing up I hated the town. I could not wait to get out. I could not see one good thing about the little town that would possibly possess someone to come back there to "raise their children". When people said that line I would gag or vomit in my mouth smile nicely and nod in agreement.  Now after being gone for 4 years I have learned to appreciate a few things about that crappy little town. 

One of the things I liked about the town was the safety. When you live in a small town where everyone knows everyone you feel safe. When someone new comes to town you know. You also know that if anything was to happen there would always be someone to help near by that you know. 

Another thing I really liked about my town is the size. YES I know, Im crazy. let me explain. In a small town you have a small school. In a small school you have small classes. In small classes you have more one on one time with teachers who invest in you more because they can. I was one of those kids who was the classic "teacher's pet". I, as you can imagine, was also made fun of a lot. Up until high school.  Being made fun of made me become very dedicated to school. I was the kid who asked for homework, and asked the teacher to check the homework. I was such a wiener kid (that one is for you Nicole). But being so dedicated to school at such a young age drove me to want more from life, more than the classic barely-graduate-high-school-and-then-stay-in-oxford-and-work-at-the-save-easy-or-oxford-frozen-foods-for-the-rest-of-my-life road. This is what drove me to go to university. 

Another part of going to a small school is that you eventually become friends with everyone in your school because when your school only has 350 people from grades 6 to 12 you have to be friends. After we all were in high school people stopped being jerks and we all became friends, for the most part.

we went to dances together:

I was clearly much bigger then.

  We went to the beach together:

We had a anual all girls pyjama wearing christmas party:

We also went to parties together:

And then believe it or not we all actually graduated together:

During graduation I cried, and cried, and cried, and cried. I was so excited to be done, but so afraid of change, and of starting a new life where I didn't know anyone. But I am here to tell you I was excited and could not wait to get out of that town. The only thing that was holding me back was the best part of the town:

My family. Mind you this is not everyone in my family, but these are most of the ones that were at my parents house on christmas day 2011. 

Moving away from my family in september of 2008 has certainly brought me closer to my family. As in moving away forced us all to come together as a group more often then when I lived at home. Everyone always feels like when someone is home visiting you have to see them, whereas if you live there you tend to go months and months without actually spending any time together. So When I moved 2 hours away in 2008 it made my family closer as a whole. In made me love my family in a way that I didn't think was possible. 

So there you have it, the first instillation of "Who is she" posts.