As the year draws to an end, I'm drawn to reflection. Thinking back on everything that has happened this year, and how much everything has changed since this time one year ago.
So instinctively, he begins to cross my mind.
It's strange to think that one year ago, almost exactly, we began to date. How different things were back then, and yet, they weren't.
It was before I had to leave school for a semester, before my life began to revolve around him.
And though I know you're thinking I'm going to break down any second and confess my undying love and wish I could return to this time last year and do everything differently, I wouldn't. I wouldn't find a way to stay in school without that break, and I wouldn't have done anything different about our relationship.
I'm sick of always having to reflect on bad situations in only a negative light. Reflecting and wishing for an altered outcome does no good; there's no going back and changing the past. So instead I've chosen to look and recall the lessons these circumstances have taught me and move on from them with more insight.
The break I took from school wasn't a choice, and yet today it's exactly what I would have chosen for myself. My leaving from school and being forced to consider all of my options to work had and return or take my loss and quit college altogether showed me how much I need this education, and how much I love it. Sitting around the house waiting for the hours at my mediocre job to happen so that I can make a subpar salary with my indifferent boyfriend is never how I would want my life to end up.
And that speaks volumes of him as well. His life encompassed mediocrity, and yet he was content. Knowing that there was the option for him to go to school, free I might add, and make something of himself, he chose the road he was already walking; one with no security and nowhere to go. I would never want that for anyone, let alone him or myself.

So I reflect back on this time a year ago, and the time since with determination. I thought my life was full of happiness then, only to see that I was blinded by a pretty face with a carefree attitude. But I can see now that even with the stresses of classes, the pressure to find a boyfriend, and the struggle of balancing school and work and a social life, I've reached bliss. I know that I am on the right path because regardless of all of the adversity I come to face, I'm never unhappy. Without him and without leaving school, I would have never known how happy I could be, in comparison to how miserable I was.