Romans 12:2

Dear 14 year old me,
Even though middle school has been rough, there is so much more out there. Life gets so much better; don't run away, but run into it.

Ten years ago yesterday I was baptized and confirmed in the Presbyterian Church. I followed in tradition of many before me and many after. But even though confirmation is tradition, mine was un-traditional. First (I didn't know) I wore a teal dress the day of, instead of white. I was the only girl in a class of six. And I wasn't baptized.

When I was a child, my parents didn't baptize me. They wanted me to choose my own path. I appreciate the thought, and looking back I understand and agree. But as a 14-year old trying to fit in at a private Christian school, being baptized as an infant was a badge of honor. I didn't have it and I couldn't get it that way, since I was 14 years too late. It was one more thing to add to the list of how I stood out when all I wanted was to fit in.

I fit in with my friends at school and church because all of us were going through a confirmation at our respective churches. I was the ONLY one who wasn't baptized. I didn't understand how I could go through all of this and NOT be baptized until the last minute. Even my parents were baptized as infants. It went against all tradition I had been taught.

But tradition can and should be broken. During my YAV year, many traditions I hold true are being broken and made beautiful. I feel most at "church" when I am among companions at Haywood St. Congregation; I frequently hum "Sanctuary" because that what I feel it has become. I can find a fiery, empowered pastor in a church of 20 people. My elder who sponsored me wasn't baptized until she was an adult. Neither was my stepmom. Things don't have to stay the same, and sometimes it's best if they don't.

I have grown so much in the past ten years. My family has grown, both who I have been given and who I have chosen. I have completed high school and college. I have moved across the country and abandoned a "traditional" post-college route. I have gone through hardships and have had the best times of my life so far. I am my own person and keep true to myself; I know my boundaries, what I like/don't like, and once I set my mind to something, I do it.

I was baptized and confirmed on the same day, 10 years ago. And I wouldn't change the path God set for me for the world. I wasn't meant to be traditional; I was meant to be unconventional.

Romans 12:2- Do not conform to this world, but be transformed...