Transformative Moments

From Erin:
1) Age 1 second- when I learned what love and family was
2) Age 5- when I learned I was smart, and liked learning
3) Age 8- when I felt hate for the first time
4) Age 11- when I realized I didn't actually care if absolutely everyone liked me
5) Age 12- when I started running with my Dad, and realized I was strong
6) Age 16- when I realized I didn't *have to* be what other people expected of me, and was free to make my own choices and mistakes
7) Age 16- when I fell in love for the first time
8) Age 17- when I started reading John Steinbeck and Ayn Rand
9) Age 18- when I met the man I knew I would marry.... someday... and when I realized our worst day would be better than a day without him
10) Age 23- when I got married, graduated university, drove accross country, got a job and bought my first home: In short- when the world finally acknowledged me as an adult
11) Age 30- when I found out I was pregnant, and when I found out I'd miscarried
12) Age 32- when I met my first child, my son, my Sunshine.  When I learned a heart can break a thousand times from a love that has no boundries and yet be all the bigger for it, and when I finally really understood my mother, and how much I owe her.