Last Year to New Year.

I know that this is a little late to be posting but since it is still in the month of January I am going to post for the new year and everything that has happened since the beginning of last year. Well at this time last year, I was still a senior in High School and had just turned 18. I was just trying to get through the last semester without catching the crap called "Senioritis"... well too late. I had already gotten that when I first got into High School. Don't get me wrong, I loved High School and being able to make many new memories with new and old friends. The only thing bad about SVHS were the labels that everyone was labeled with. It seemed as when you were labeled something you could never escape it. There were many times that these labels were good and some bad, but in the end you were still branded as to what people thought of you. I was ready to leave, and begin a new me, a new beginning and hope for some new labels and brands that I could give myself before others did. In May 2010, I graduated High School which is such a huge accomplishment and milestone in everyones life. I was caught in many emotions when I graduated, mainly happiness and joy of what was coming and what happened in the past four years. High School was filled with teenage love, heartbreaks, hope, best friends, crappy cars, first day of school clothes, volleyballs, skipping classes and on top of it all, memories that will never be forgotten. I am thankful that I was able to go through High School knowing what people mattered, which didn't, knowing first loves, Prom dates, and being able to look back and smile with regrets that were simply not getting to school on time. I ended high school with no regrets, and an open heart to keep everyone I had loved, liked, and been a best friend to forever.
After graduation, I worked three jobs trying to earn money for the hope that I could come to Hawaii and start anew. I worked everyday through the summer with my CNA, rode my reigner Roy everyday, and soaked up the sun and memories with my friends before we all had to go our separate ways. At the end of the Summer, everyone parted ways and I felt so lost, because I was about to step off a cliff without knowing what was going to happen, no one to catch me at the bottom and a lot of space to fall. But, I made the plunge anyways! I left on September 12, 2010, and nothing on this earth could have prepared me for that day. I walked to the top of the escalator with my family, and all I could do was cry. Everything I had learned in my 18 years were to be tested in the ultimate test. I hugged all my family, and there I went to a whole new place that I knew nothing and no one about. But, all in the moment of hectic craziness, I felt at peace. I knew this is where I was supposed to be, in my life right now. Now here I am, 4 months later, saying that getting on that plane was the best thing I have ever done for myself. I'm thankful that I was scared out of my mind, because in some weird way it made me stronger. I'm thankful for a loving family that trusted me enough to let me go for me. I'm thankful to myself mostly because, I trusted myself to know this is what I needed. So over the past year, it's been crazy, scary, trusting, loving, and beautiful. But you know I wouldn't have it any other way.

Miss Kadi Lou Erickson was all they knew, only the name.

Okay, so I might as well tell everyone what I have been up to for the last while, since I'm not sure when the last time people heard from me was. I am proud to say I am currently residing in Laie, Hawaii. . . Going to school of course! I have been here for 4 months now and will continue my education here at BYU-Hawaii until April. I am very blessed and grateful to be here and to see a whole new world and experience many different cultures. Let me tell you though, it was a shocker! The little sheltered girl from big-bad Wyoming had finally met her match.  I was scared to death, but the Lord truly blessed me with strength and love to have the confidence to strive and become a better me 5,000 miles away from home. When I first got off the plane, I was filled with anxiousness, fear, and hope. The thought ran through my head a million times that day. . . "Are you SURE this is where you are supposed to be?" And even being completely on my own, I still had the comfort that this time in my life is devoted to me, what I want and whom I someday want to become. So, there I went chugging along with my whole life packed into 3 suitcases, and my heart wearing easily on my sleeve, I set off into the place people call Paradise. . . More to come tomorrow :)

Beginning Something New.

 Ever since I was able to walk, I am pretty sure I was carrying around a pen or a pencil, or even anything that would create something on a surface. In in the 19 years I have been alive, I have found writing to be an escape, a dream, and a glance into the past while living my life for the future.Through jotting down my heart plain and simple; with napkins and my dad's leftover recycle paper from school, I have found that writing is a laugh, a tear, and could be one of the greatest moments of your life. I can look back and find a thought I never knew I could posess, and the next day need the strength to find something real. Writing is just like life. We write something each and everyday, good and bad, heartfelt and cold. And just like things we regret, we may also write what we need and what we hope for in the future. A future should be remembered as living, and completely filled through and through with different colored ink. A perfect illustration of who we are. A life that smudges the paper with tears, and has so many black-smudges from erasers, you begin to wonder if it was a paper in the first place. Sometimes in these papers,we get lucky and find people, people that have impacted us and sculpted who we are today. So thats what I am going to do, be a napkin, an eraser, and a permanent marker. I'm going to write my life with no regrets, only faith and hope for what is to come.

This is the blog of me, raw and simple. My wildest dreams, and craziest friends and family will continue to be written. This is my life plain and simple. Enjoy :)