2014 was definitely one of the best years of my life to date, but what made the year so special was being able to really be part of my family again!

After high school, I was dying to move away and start life on my own. Though my family was sad to see me go, I was more than prepared to spend time away and was even okay knowing that I wouldn’t see them very often. Once I was done with my degree, I left my home state of Florida and moved  further away to Oklahoma City. That was probably far enough from my family but I wasn’t done moving yet. I ended up putting even more distance between my family and I to start a job in Denver.

I didn’t realize how important my family was to me until I was so far away that I didn’t really get to be part of them. My youngest brother, Sam, started middle school and my sister, Susie, was in her last year of high school. I couldn’t help but think how I was missing out on all of their special experiences.

When I had an opportunity to move closer to home, I jumped at the chance. Though it was a big, expensive and tear-filled move, I made my way down to Tallahassee where I’m less than three hours from my family. Now I get to go to family birthday parties and band concerts. I get to spend time getting to know my youngest brother and actually my oldest brother too! It’s amazing to me how you can grow up together and still feel like there is more to know about a sibling. My sister and I get to be best friends now, which is something we have struggled to do for years.

All in all, I’ve had too many wonderful experiences to count from 2014, but my favorite of all of them was finding out that my family is where my heart is!

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Learn more about Whitney here.