I'm so proud and hopeful....

Let me say this post is probably going to get me in trouble. So just know that's not my intention. My purpose for this post is to show my cousin just how very much I love him and how proud I am of him.

I have a cousin, okay so I have lots of them, but 6 of them(5males, 1female) have always been more like my brothers and sister than my cousins. One of them, well he's had issues. He will admit freely he's a recovering addict. He's had a hard road and life has thrown him some curveballs he wasn't prepared for and missed. Well today he's left our hometown and he's making his way to the other side of the state. He's a Cherokee Indian and has plans to start a new life on the reservation. I've been trying for years to get him to leave the area of our hometown. Don't get me wrong, I think our hometown is great in ways. It's a cute town, some of the people are awesome, I miss parts of it. But my hometown has it issues, and drugs are a major part of those issues. That's not to say everyone does them, it's to say that once you are part of that world the only way out is to leave the area for good. My hometown likes to pretend it's "forgiving" but I know from experience it's not. Once you've made a name for yourself it's not going anywhere, even if you change and prove it, the people will NEVER forget it. They will forever wait for you to fail again.

When I left 13yrs ago, at first I was really sad, I missed my few friends I'd managed to keep, I missed my family, I just missed the town, the area. But I soon grew to love my new hometown and I honestly could not imagine ever returning to the area I grew up in and being happy. I love the small town I live in, I love the people here.

So for years I've tried to tell my cousin to leave. It's hard but I truly believe once he's out of that area and the influence of his "friends" there and away from the family that he'll see what I mean.

He made the decision to leave and he's left. I'm so proud of him for making the move. It's hard. I know this. My mom knows this. I'm not sure about the rest of the family, how they feel about it. Personally I think it's the best thing he's done in years and that now he can start to live a life he was meant to live. I'm so proud of him and hopeful for his future. He's such a great man, he's funny, he's sweet, he's smart, he's good looking, and soo much more. He's got the world at his feet. I have complete faith in him.

He's starting a new life and I hope the old one will let him go. You know that old saying "Today is the first day of the rest of your life" well that's him, that's this time of his life.

I'm proud of him.

Okay I'm going now.
hugs,
WendyK