I am here.

I was standing in the kitchen at my boyfriend's house, telling him about my plans to go to Oregon State for physical therapy. He laughed and said, "Okay, when you drop out because it's too hard, you can come live with me."

Three years later, I am now in my freshman year as a kinesiology major at Oregon State. I graduated from high school with an honors diploma, and I am loving college.

For almost two years after he and I broke up, I struggled with feeling useless and stupid, because he put me down so often and so subtly that it snuck into every part of my life.

Today, I say look at me now. I am here.