Staging A Come-back

So...I haven't written in this thing in quite some time. Actually I completely forgot I had it. But now is as good of time as any to start it back up right?!? I think so too. Now that we have that straight, I do need to vent on one particular topic....

2010 has officially been the craziest year of my life. The year started out good, but three hours in turned into a nightmare. Many people who read this already know what I am referring to, but for those who don't, to make a very long story short, my little brother was attacked by a group of high school boys and in trying to defend himself, was wrongfully charged with a very serious crime, one that included 20 years to life in prison. Two and a half months later my nightmare is over. A few nights ago we found out that the charges have been dropped because the evidence does show what my poor brother has been saying all along, it was self-defense and will be expunged from his record. This was a day I had been looking forward to since the beginning of the year, yet even now, days later I'm still not positive it has all sunk in. Its like a weight you've grown so acoustomed to carrying for so long that once it's gone the phantom feeling persists. Its strange for me to not dread the future as I have for the entire year, and to actually be excited about my own birthday. Before, the pretrial was supposed to be 12 days before my 25th birthday. Needless to say I wasn't looking forward to anything in April, yet a total 180 has occurred in 4 days and now I have plans to go to the FL keys a day after I turn 25 and swim with dolphins, a dream I've had since I was a little girl. I honestly feel, for the second time this year, that I have whiplash.

Yet I'm still left asking why? Why did all of this occur? What was the higher purpose? As a rational person I know that not everything happens for a reason, and this whole situation could just be a massive fuck-up on many people's part (including my own brothers because while it was in self-defense, he could have walked away and called the cops rather than putting himself in the situation). But another part of me, the part that believes whole-heartedly in a higher power, looks for the bigger picture. Two things I see from this whole debacle is that my family has grown closer and more tight-knit than ever before, my brother learned a valuable lesson, one I wish he could have learned a different way, and has changed his life for the better. I just hope that these changes last, in both my family as well as within my brother.

Well...now that I have that off my chest, I should probably grade papers :( lol.