Let Me Begin…

…Oh it’s been a little while. My creative side and my written words have not been exposed for the world to see in quite some time. But I’m back! I plan on making this a life long journey with my writing, and wherever it decides to take me, I’m just going to go with it. I’ll give a little background on myself to begin (even though to start I know most of the people reading this already know who I am) but in case someone stumbles upon my page that doesn’t know me, this is truly for you then.

My name is Erin Cross (formerly Erin Rafferty, hooray for being married for almost 2 years!) and I’m 24 years old. I can honestly say since the age of 5, I’ve loved to read and write. I probably had at least 20 different journals as a kid and constantly found new reasons to buy brand new ones. I used to wake up at 5 AM when I’d hear my mom get ready to go walking with her friend and I would secretly read in my room, talk about nerdy. I’m pretty sure I went to the public library at least once a week as a kid, and I would check out 3 or 4 books at a time. I always had my nose in a book, and somehow I also found time to play sports and be outside.

I’ve always been a tomboy, but a girly one at that. My mom used the term “tomboy with lip gloss” to explain the type of kid I was. I had my growth spurts early and I was awkward. I wore a size 8 shoe in the third grade…SERIOUSLY?! I haven’t grown an inch since I was 11, and while I was taller than most of the boys in my grade for most of my life, everyone finally caught up to me in size once we reached high school.

High school was an interesting time in my life. It was a roller coaster. I had great friends, but I also had some pretty brutal critics. I was good at appearing confident, but on the inside I was SO unsure of myself. I grew through my awkward stages and learned to enjoy the journey. I fell in love twice when I was young and was heartbroken twice at a fairly young age. I thought I knew everything and how I wanted my adult life to start and had those plans turned upside down.

Even with plans that were drastically changed, better things came out of it. I met my now husband because of one of life’s twists. I transferred to my dream college that I was denied entry to as a high school senior. I changed majors after taking 2 classes in the field I thought I wanted to pursue, and ended up learning a lot more about life with the route I took instead.

I graduated college and had the hardest time finding a job. I worked for someone that I didn’t really like and quit without having a back-up plan. I landed a job that same day I gave my notice. My second “big kid” job really challenged me. It wasn’t a position I planned on staying in for long but I had to create my own path to a different position. It treated me well but I realized I wasn’t being challenged in ways that I was dreaming to be challenged. I got my third big kid job and now I’m really trying to re-learn all the things that I was once so passionate about and it’s caused me to fall into this space, right here, writing.

I am not that different than most of the people my age. We’re at that point in our lives where we’re getting married or in serious relationships, starting families or launching our careers to all new heights. But there is something different about each person in this world and it’s our experiences and how we get through them that makes us all unique. We all see the world through our own lenses and if we could take the time to see the world through other people’s eyes, imagine what we would see. Things that we didn’t see as beautiful, we would now admire. Perspectives we wouldn’t of taken during a heated debate we could now appreciate. The list could go on and on, but we all have things to share with one another. My hope is that we could take the time to share these things among each other and appreciate everyone a little bit more.

I have experiences and stories that I think have helped make me who I am, and some of them I admit are entertaining and others make me cringe, but I’m ready to share it all! I also have so many thoughts about present day things that we all are dealing with and I want people to remember, they aren’t alone.

Welcome! Whether this is the only post you’ll ever read or if you decide to stay awhile, thank you and I hope to talk to you!

-E