Growing up in a military family means that I move every few years. In August 2014 we moved to California. Normally I'm good at making new friends, but the middle school that I was supposed to be going to, I could not stand! They didn't have an honors program, which I had been doing, but the thing that bugged me the most was the fact that they did not know how to deal with military families. Which I normally wouldn't care about, but the school is right next to the base and half of their students belong to military families. So, my amazing parents let me do k12 online school.

The problem with online school is that you basically have no social interaction (Which means I had no friends in Cali). A couple of months after we moved, I learned that my best friend was suicidal. There were some days she would call me and I had to talk her out of killing herself and for a long time I was the only one that could help her. I was so stressed out and depressed that some days I wouldn't eat or sleep. Finally I told my parents what was happening and we figured out a way to help her get better, but even after that a lot of scary things happened. She ended up in the hospital for a while and even when she was doing much better, I was still insanely depressed.

On January 31st, one year ago today, I don't even know what to say except the cliché that I was a totally different person. But also on January 31st, 2015, I went to the first rehearsal for a show called Aladdin JR. And on that day, I met a lot of amazing people. They are people I admire, aspire to be like, some of my best friends, and people that I love with all my heart. You guys are the reason I'm no longer depressed, and possibly the reason I'm still on this earth. So, even if we didn't become friends right away, thank you guys so much for everything, and Happy Anniversary!

~Maddy