Where Are They Now

[kumon]

Hey guys! So today I randomly remembered this whole world and part of my life. I was spent some time looking back at all of our stories and sometimes cringing at my poor writing lol! However, it brought back a lot of great memories! I'm not sure if anyone will ever see this, but I wanted to kind of share a little bit about where I am now and I hope to one day check back in and maybe see some of where your lives have gone over the years.

I always kept my life very private so I don't know if I ever shared my real name, but it is Caitlin. I am now going in to my Junior year of college in Southern California and studying Hospitality Management. I have started my career with Marriott International and hope to stay with them for some time. Unfortunately, my life with horses both virtual and real has come to a stop. I no longer ride, but still have a great love for them. Hey, maybe one day I'll pick back up right? One interesting thing that I never would have foreseen myself doing was moving to the rural Southern Oregon coast after a pretty awful break up coupled with anxiety and depression. There I learned the art of making cheddar cheese and worked at one of the factories for several months. It was a time of incredible healing for me and totally lit a fire in my life. In the coming months I plan on taking a trip to Italy and hopefully seeing as much as Europe in the process as I can. I also have taken up running pretty seriously over the years and have started training for half marathons.

I hope your lives have been filled with an incredible amount of joy, passion and love. I'm sure that we have all experienced struggles and success over these past few years. I hope that you know that from time to time I still think about all the friends I made on this board and wish you the best.

[Charmwing]

I came on here expecting the most recent post to still be from 2012. I was pleasantly surprised to see someone else had the same idea as me, haha.

I know this is mostly a shout into the void, but I've been thinking a lot about this place today. Mostly about the people who used to be here. It's like someone flipped a switch in my brain, and I started thinking of old usernames.

According to my profile, I was barely eleven when I joined you all here, which is CRAZY to think about now, nine years later. I'm 20 now. I cut all my hair off, and I have three tattoos, if you can believe it (I know eleven year old me probably wouldn't)! I graduated from community college last spring, and I'm currently taking a semester off in preparation for returning to school next year. I still live in a little town in New York, though I did get a chance to study animation in California for a brief period, and that was amazing. I don't know if I ever mentioned it here, but my real name is Elaine. Sometimes I make costumes, sometimes I make videos. Sometimes I draw and sometimes I write. Mostly I try to figure out what college I should go and how I'm going to pay for it. But that's the boring stuff. 

Pykiin, and this community in general, was a huge part of inspiring me to become a better artist, and words cannot express what your support meant all those years ago. This was a place where I felt like I could be myself, be creative, and be a part of something that excited me, and I realize now how valuable that was to me and how much I miss it all.

I just wanted to say thank you. For being my friends. This is one of the first places where I felt like I belonged. I looked forward to talking with all of you after I got home from school, so, so much. I loved writing stories with you. I'm so grateful that you welcomed a little kid like me into your community. And I miss you all dearly. Maybe it's the holiday season making me sentimental, but it's true. I love you guys.

I hope you're all well, where ever you are. I hope you are surrounded by people who love you, and that you smile until your cheeks hurt every day, because it's the best feeling in the world.

Lots of love, <3

Charm