closer than ever

So, 2008 it is. It's been a long ride for me to get here. I can still remember (unfortunately) 2003: that year I took two subjects that prevented me from finishing high school. I went for a whole year to a school for adults. Four days a week, I would sit in the middle of a bunch of 17 year old kids that didn't care anything about their future. They were SO different from me! I mean, I am different from everybody (not in a good way, precisely), but I really felt out of place there. The only two friends I made in that year were a 27 year old girl (I was 20 by that time) and a 43 single father, Roberto. They were great, but they didn't have to go to school evey day, and many many times I felt lonely. No one would speak to me. And of course, my attitude wasn't the best, either. I remember how much I cried that year. It was taugh.
And yet, somehow, with a lot of help from my mom, I got through the entire year. I passed the subjects with totally unexpected grades. And something began growing on me: little by little, the idea of continuing studying after that year made me dream awake, for the first time in a long time.
Of course, I knew I wouldn't have chances of surviving at the jungle (=university), so that's how I got to Lola Mora. And soon, another journey began.
I made great friends, met fantastic teachers (and not so good ones, as well), and what had started as a shy ilusion of trying to study English turned into passion. I found out how happy I am when teaching, and how unique is the connction that we can establish with our students.
Of course, not everything has been perfect: hidden aspects of my personality I didn't know I had came to light and things got complicated. In fact 2007 was a wasted year.
But we learn. Every time we fall, there are two things we can be sure of: there will always be someone to help us stand up, and we be a little wiser. That's why, in spite of everything, of the dark past and the uncertainty of the future I feel closer than ever.