WRIT 340 Blog Post 1# "Who You Are Matters"

I was born two days after 9/11, on September 13, 2001 in my fathers hometown of Melrose, Massachusetts, where I lived my entire life until I was 13. My family of four, my dad, mom, older brother and I all picked up and moved a few towns north to my mothers hometown of Lynnfield, where I am lucky to call home. Shortly after moving, my father died in a work-related accident. It was then that my maternal grandparents stepped in and really helped save my mom, brother and I and I am eternally grateful for them. 

In a lot of ways, I feel very different from my parents. However, I am often told that I look just like my dad and that I have a little bit of my mothers personality. I picked up a lot of my moms values, likes, and dislikes. We both are very passionate about holistic health and healing, animals, coffee, and romance books and movies. 

I feel that I set strong expectations for myself and I truly listen to myself more than anyone else, however, I have an uncontrollable fear of judgment from people and it causes so much anxiety for me every single day to the point where I don’t feel that I can be myself. 

After graduation, I am moving back to the east coast as I have missed it dearly. I think I will probably live in the Boston area when I first get back but then potentially move to New York City for a few years. After that, maybe I’ll move back to Massachusetts, but I have always loved the idea of having a second home in Washington State or Florida and a lake house in Maine, so we will see how that goes. I would love to work in event and wedding planning but I would also love to write some fiction books someday. As for someone who serves as a role model for me it is surprisingly hard to think of someone other than a relative. Someone who comes to mind though is former actress Nikki Reed, who left acting behind because she felt that there were more important things to focus on in life. She now lives happily in Santa Barbara on a farm with tons of animals, growing her own produce with her husband and children. It is very rare to see someone break free from the reins of Hollywood and I greatly admire her for that. Mainly because for my entire life all I wanted to do was work in Hollywood and now after actually being in LA and interning in the industry, I am honestly a little put off by it and would prefer to have a career elsewhere that is more meaningful and valuable to me. 

Animals are one of the best things in life in my opinion and I feel that most people like myself feel a special connection to dogs, more than any other animal so it’s hard to think of any other animal that would triumph that. Some of my favorite wild animals include Moose, Seals, and Koalas. An animal that has never been my favorite, but has become very meaningful to me in the past couple of years has been the Crow. I have found that whenever I pray for a sign or if I am going through a particularly anxious or stressful time, a crow will suddenly appear, so now I view them as a sort of spirit guide to me. Thinking of a special connection with a plant is much harder but I do remember being a kid and living at my old house in Melrose that was surrounded by a canopy of trees and being so in awe of their height. They were so enormous and tall and I felt like they were protecting the house and I just felt so comforted by their surrounding presence. Being in the middle of LA, I miss and yearn for their comforting presence deeply. 

Sun Sign: Virgo in 21 Degrees

Moon Sign: Leo in 0 Degrees

Rising Sign: Aquarius in 2 Degrees