I have been writing in a journal on an almost-daily basis since I was 17 years old. This is a record of me going through each entry from the beginning, and commenting on the me from fifteen years ago.

Not so long ago, I looked about at the company I kept while they glowed underneath the orange lights. This is my family. Though we may wander apart, the love still holds us. And all these people, all my beautiful friends, I will love forever. You can go wherever you want, fuck up however you want, be an asshole to us in the process, but we will still hug you when you come home, wherever home may be. I never had a family before, I never needed brothers & sisters & now I can’t imagine a life without them. I love you all and you make me love life.

This is an unusually positive entry. I think I’m talking about my circle of friends when I refer to family, but all the same, reading it made me feel good.