Everyone and their dog has done one of these, so why not me?

French Horns, Mellophones, and the St. Louis Arch with some band underneath it

As most of you know, I'm OBSESSED with band, but this year is when I really got to flourish in it. 

My school's band took a trip to St. Louis, where we marched there for the 4th of July and won 5th place competing against 12 other schools, getting 80.5/100 points and winning $500 for our band program. ($500 is maybe a couple uniforms) 

I also got to encounter what it really means to let people leave your life. I had two lovely seniors in my section who I absolutely adored, but just like that, they left. I've seen them both, in fact one of them continues to dote on me whenever we see each other and thinks that I'd make the better section leader, but they're just not there anymore. I'm dreading experiencing this again at the end of this summer, when I have to say goodbye to my section leader. 

"We're all a little broken. But the last time I checked, broken crayons still color the same." 
"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

I'm not sure I've made an official announcement before, but since October, I've been living in poverty. 

Now, not complete poverty, but the guardians I live with are both unemployed, one due to not being able to work, and the other due to getting wrongfully fired. We've been struggling, a lot. I barely got a Christmas this year, the only reason we had one was because someone anonymously bought Christmas for our entire family. We have unemployment benefits, but it's not enough.

 It's everything we can do to keep food on the table, the electricity on, and the gas in the car. It's been three months of searching for jobs, and not one place has even offered to give a fair interview. It's also been threats of getting kicked out by our "landlord" (we rent at my grandma's house), and talk of pulling me from doing band, robotics, and soccer related activities to save money.

My parents have also been fighting a lot again, as well as most of my family starting to disapprove of my many extra activities. I've also been getting sick a lot lately, slipping a fair amount in school (I used to average a high 3.8, now I'm at a low 3.7) and trying to wrap my head around everything life is throwing at me. 

Life's pretty broken, huh?

I'm not here to preach, but I can say that the only reason I'm still here is God. And as long as I believe, I can keep on fighting and hoping for the day when this all gets better.

Writing

I don't know where I officially announced my final standings for PWA this year, but I got 8th place out of 19 total entries, and received a 55% score on my book from the category leader. If you wish to compare, the first place entry received around a 75%. I'm proud of myself, and I continue to plan on writing whenever I'm allowed time. 

Soccer

I started managing soccer this year as well, and I absolutely LOVED it. I met so many wonderful kids on the team, as well as built a good bond with the coaches on the team. In fact, even though I only worked with the JV team, I received a varsity letter and helped the head coach control all of the awards that were handed out this year. There's also the fact that I got really close to one guy in specific on the team...

"I fell for you before I even realized I did." 

So yeah, I just hit 3 months on my relationship.

I still don't quite know how it happened. I'm not the prettiest girl, I'm probably not the smartest? I have an awkward personality, I throw myself under the bus all the time, and I have so much going on in my life that I can barely keep my own self under control, much less manage a significant other. 

Yet it's working and I love every minute of it. 

When I got asked to Homecoming, I thought it would be a one time thing. But over the two and a half or so weeks between the day I was asked and the day of the dance, I realized that I actually kinda liked this guy. We became such good friends it was common among some of the Freshmen in soccer and in band to question if we were dating or not. (In fact, when the soccer team first found out, they went insane). There's also a couple of the seniors in band who love to poke fun at me, in which case I immediately start dying on the inside. 

I guess I'm just really happy. Having someone there who can tell me I'm great when life is telling me I'm not is great. I like being able to be with someone, having someone that I'm always there for, and that someone is always there for me. I like the little bickering that comes when he tries to be the traditional gentleman and I try to be an independent lady. I like the way he treats me,  and I can only hope he likes me back. I'd assume he does, we didn't get 3 months by hating each other. 

All in all, this year has been pretty broken up. But who cares? When life decides to be crap, I decide to punch life back in the face and take it as a challenge to make my life the best it can be.