3. Where have you been spending your time lately? Three/Five/Ten years ago would you have expected to be there?

Lately I have been spending all of my time in 1 of 4 places. My house, Diego’s house,  at work, or at a bonfire. I would have never expected to be where I am now in life. Back in 8^th grade Shawn and I never even talked even though he was Diego’s best friend. Now, I see him every weekend with the rest of the gang. The same with Rico, at Coral Reef we barely said hi. Which is hard to image why now. Three/Five/or even Ten years ago I would have never imagined Diego and I would still be together. Knowing myself and with all the bullshit of middle school and high school I never thought we would make it this far until about 2 years ago. I also would have never thought I would actually be leaving home to start a new life 8 hours away in Savannah. It’s scary. 

2. Who are you? In comparison to who you used to be. What made you change?

I am Danielle. I am a daughter, sister, friend, lover, and photography student. I am strong, I know what I want out of life, and I am happy. For the first time in my life I can say that everything is falling in to place and as scary as it is, I have never been more myself. I am nothing like I used to be and sadly I don’t even know who that person was. She was sad, desperate for people to like her, and confused about where life was taking her.  The year I turned 18 something just changed. I met different people, happy people, good-hearted people, and Diego’s and my relationship changed drastically. I remember one night after clubbing and driving across the bridge home I saw the Miami skyline light up and I remember talking about the meaning of life and it hit me. I knew then I needed to make a change and just be happy. Ever since I have done everything I could to do just that. I got rid of people who didn’t deserve to be in my life, I made it my mission to get into art school again, and actually go this time no matter how far in debt I will be when I get out, and to start a life with Diego. The change made me realized people could actually like me for just being me. I didn’t have to pretend as cliché as it sounds. I just had to be me and I think I do a pretty fine job of that now. So what’s different between the old me and the new me? Happiness.