I Wore My Strength Necklace Every Day

A year and a half ago my boyfriend moved to Seattle. I'm in Buffalo, NY. It was so much harder to deal with than I anticipated. Lots of tears, goodbyes, letters mailed to him telling him how much I missed him, and a lot of cheesy other stuff. Within all this emotional haze, I decided to fast forward my grad school program and graduate earlier so I could get to him faster.

This past fall/winter is my last in Buffalo. Being extremely tight with my family (my grandma lives next store), I knew it would be tough to finish probably the toughest semester of the program while enjoying my family and friends. I spent so many more nights on school and work than I had wanted. In October, I found out that my best friend since Kindergarten (THAT'S 17 YEARS!) was moving to Nashville. She had always talked about moving, but I didn't know it was actually going to happen as soon as it did. Her mother told me after church and I cried for two hours. I was supposed to move away before her so it was easier for me. She was so selfish! Kidding.

At some point I went to a little boutique in downtown Buffalo and discovered the Giving Keys. I really respected what they stood for, but also needed a little strength myself- with my best friend moving, and me leaving my family to start a new life on a totally different coast. I wore my Strength necklace every day- while I presented my research I was working on to our work-in-progress group, during exams, during my final master's thesis presentation- all the time. After my master's thesis was over, I realized that my time with the key was done. Yeah, I was going to have to deal with moving in January, but my best friend needed it ASAP in Nashville. And school was done; a portion of my battle was done. So the night before she left, I passed the STRENGTH key onto her.