As I'm writing this, it's December 31, 2018. You know what that means? It means we made it folks! Because it's this time again, everyone on social media is posting they're favorite memories from 2018. I thought why not write an article about the craziest year of my life.

January - My family kicked off the year with my dad in the hospital. He had a heart attack that he shouldn't have survived but did. I was a crazy way to start the year but everything ended up okay. A few days later, I went to the Illinois State Theater Festival which was held at Illinois State University. This was so much fun! My friends and I got to see plays and musicals and attend workshops taught by really talented people. But the best part of the trip is that I got to celebrate my 18th birthday with my closest friends surrounded by theater and music. I also started the last musical of my high school career, Mary Poppins. On the 27th, I went to Winter Jam 2018. If you didn't know, Winter Jam is basically a big Christian concert. It was so powerful and I can't wait to see what Winter Jam 2019 will bring.

February - February is very important to me because this is when I picked my first roommate Grace. We had a Biology class together senior year. I'm so happy that we did because I love living with her and I can't imagine college life without her. February 23rd was my friends Sarah's 18th birthday. A bunch of my friends dresses up and went to the Cheesecake Factory. We all had such an amazing time!

March - In March, I got to fly! For Mary Poppins, my school rented flight equipment for the show. Because of our amazing Drama Boosters, we all got to try it out and fly! It was such a great, once-in-a-lifetime experience. March 16th through the 18th we performed Mary Poppins. I'm so happy I got to be a part of this show. At this point in the year, I was really mentally unhealthy so this show was a big learning experience for me. I was in choir all four years of high school so as a goodbye to all the seniors we got to go on a trip to see a Broadway show. We saw the Color Purple at the Fabulous Fox in St. Louis. It was really cool to see professional actors up close and the show was amazing.

April - At this point, the school year was drawing to a close and that means prom! I asked one of my close friends, Lorelei for fun but a big group of my friends ended up going altogether. My senior year I was an officer of our school's chapter of Tri-M Music Honors Society and we held our induction of next years members. That night was fun but very stressful. Another performance took place in April called Murder in the Knife Room. This was our Thespian show for the year. I played a backstreet boy. It was so much fun to dress up and perform one last time on the stage.

May - On May 2nd, we found out that Mary Poppins would be revived at the St. Louis High School Musical Theater Awards. The very next day one of my close friends got in a bad car accident that put him in the hospital (don't worry he's okay now). That weekend was the Thespian banquet which is the end of the year banquet for the drama club. It was fun but sad because it was the last one for all of the seniors. And most importantly, in May I finished high school!

June / July - I grouped together the summer months because not much happened. I had my graduation party and I attended many others but that's it. Summer was just one big party.

August - November - In August, I started my freshman year at Illinois State University and met my new best friends. My quad became my new safe space and I created an amazing life for myself up in BloNo.Coming to college was the best decision of my whole life. I can't imagine where I would be if even one tiny detail was changed about my first semester.

Now, as you know, It's December and 2019 is right around the corner. So much has happened to me this year that changed my outlook on life but I wouldn't have it any other way. 2018 was overall great. Even though there were lots of bumps in the road, I'm thankful for every little thing that happened. I grew a lot this year and I'm so excited to see all the ways I'll continue to grow in 2019! Happy new year everyone!