[preciousjeni]

Five years ago today, I was 25. I had just been initiated into my sorority eleven days earlier, so I was probably an insane neo doing insane neo things. I was also just recovering from having my gallbladder removed.

Around that same time, I was planning for grad school in the fall and developing a friendship with my current husband. I had my then-boyfriend arrested a few months later (he was abusive and a criminal in general) and I ran away to New York in August where I started my graduate program.

Now, I'm married and have one last requirement for the master's degree. We bought a house and two new cars within the past year and I have been serving my sorority as a national director since 2007. I'm currently also holding a second national directorship for which I was appointed last month.

In ten years, I will have just turned 40. I'm hoping to bring at least one child into the family through birth or adoption. I'm also hoping to be in a career that has meaning and is fulfilling. The one I'm in now makes me want to kill someone. In reality, though, I have done more than anyone could have imagined ten years ago when I was very sick and my family thought I would die.