It's been exactly one year since I've written my first Odyssey article. 365 days ago, I pressed my fingertips to my keyboard and shared my words to the world for the first time.

Since I nervously clicked "submit" one year ago, my heart has beaten approximately 42 million times, I have taken around 8,409,600 breaths, and I have smiled too many times to count.

My first article was a birthday gift to my mom, entitled "A Letter to My Mom on Her Birthday," and my plan wasn't to write to the world. I only wanted my words to reach her. I quickly realized the power of a simple blog post, the strength of a sentence, and the significance of a single word. Releasing my writing to the Internet shifted something inside of me that is almost inexplicable.

I have experienced the most life-changing adventures in this past year, and I am so happy that Odyssey allowed me to share my thoughts, passions, and emotions with the world. I have had the opportunity to speak in ways that my vocal cords don't allow, my hands cannot gesture, and my actions won't convey. Through writing, I can articulate feelings that come from my soul, rather than my mind.

When I was eight-years-old, I wrote my first book. My mom is a teacher, and I can vividly remember sitting in her classroom after school every day through my elementary years, typing up imaginary stories before I even perfected my cursive handwriting. From that young age, I knew I didn't want to be a teacher, but I knew that I did want to teach something to someone through words one day. I honestly can't remember what my first novel was about or the names of the characters that I created, but I do recall the feeling of freedom that writing gave me.

It's been 365 days since my first article was released to the world, and once again, I am dedicating it to my mom. Her birthday has rolled around again, and I want to announce to the world how much I appreciate her. I have changed so much in the past year; I have had wild experiences and friendships that I didn't think were possible a year ago. I have laughed for hours and cried even longer. I have felt both overwhelmingly confident and pitifully self-conscious. I have been challenged, and I have succeeded numerous times. Despite all of these changes, my love for my mom has never wavered.

In less than two months, I will turn 19. I can still remember my mom carrying me to my room after I pretended to fall asleep in the backseat of the car when I was a toddler. Almost two decades later, my mom is still my rock star. To this day, she has taught me more than my ABCs and how to tie my shoes; now she teaches me about being an adult and how to make intelligent decisions. I am forever grateful for all of these things, and I am so thankful that she instilled in me my passion for writing. Some of my favorite memories of my mom are her reading to me as I fell asleep and my wide eyes watching her teach English to her students. She is the most intelligent woman I know, and I am positive that any ounce of my wisdom stems straight from her genes.

So much has changed in a year. I have finished my freshman year at Baylor, I have made the Dean's list twice, and I have used my passion for writing to think about the world differently. I can thank my mom for all of this. I am who I am because of her. Now, I still don't have all of the answers, and I can't tell you exactly what I'll be doing ten years from now. But here's what I can tell you: I am confident that I'll be doing something that I love and something that matters because of the life lessons that my mother has taught me.

Because of her, I know that I want my future work to be something that inspires me. Because of her, I know that I shouldn't settle for anything less than I deserve. Because of her, I know that I want my future husband to have a close relationship with his mother, too, because family is something that is too important to ignore. Simply writing my first Odyssey article one year ago has spiraled a chain reaction of events that remind me that my mom was the first person to teach me the significance of having a passion in the first place.

My heart has beaten 42 million times in the past year, and each baboom has been for you, Mommy. Thank you for being you, and thank you for teaching me how to be me. Happy birthday.