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I've never been the type of person that wanted to grow up and stay in my town. I grew up there, spent every year of my life there, I know every road and can recognize every house. I always just imagined it was a holding area. A stepping stone to the next place I will go and a place that should be escaped as soon as possible. So, when the time came and I graduated college, I took my degree and moved across the country where I thought my life would begin and everything would start to fit into place.

It wasn't long before I realized something wasn't right. It was all internal, absolutely. I mean, the city was gorgeous, the people were great, and it was exciting to go on this new adventure; to see the amazing cities that I never thought I would be submerged in. All these fantastic things were happening. I had a beautilful new loft, events to see every night, I was creating like crazy and not even the thought of repaying my student loans could get me down!

Then the summer starting wrapping up and my insides started to knot. The adventure felt like it was time to end. Like a vacation that I couldn't let go on too long. The summer's days were closing, events were slowing down, people went back to school and work and I was left behind; left with the same life I had at home, just empty. My friends were all at home, all the things I love about Autumn & Winter Holidays were about to kick in and I would miss them. And of course, my family. I can't even begin to express how much I wanted to be with my family.

I began to list things, as I often do, and the thoughts written on the page were horrifying realizations. I had just spent every dime I ever saved on packing my life up and moving across the country and the truth on the page said this was all wrong. My mother raised me to cherish life by its moments. To cherish family and friends as they are more important than any material item or world. After 22 years of this lesson, I realized that it wasn't just my mother's teaching, but that this train of thought had now become my set of values and beliefs; the views and set of priorities that would be crucial throughout my life.

I had been lucky enough to spend my life surrounded by family and their presence is so important to me. I've always been supported by my mother and my large Italian family on one side, and even more so by the large Irish influence on the other that was a silent backbone in my growth. My luck continued as my role models were strong women like my mother and

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