I'm finding I am losing my identity. Maybe not so much my identity as a false sense of who I am. I am around all these young people without too many cares in the world and I forget that I have realities to deal with.

Like yesterday. A new rule went into effect after July1 if you rent or lease, which I do, you must put your water bill in your name instead of getting a duplicate bill from your landlord. Rentals are huge down here and I guess too many landlords were left holding the bills of some errant tenant.

So I called them up to put that change in place and found they needed a $300 deposit! I didn't even have to pay that much for the power to be put in my name. My landlord said 'it's just $300'! Well, that wasn't going to work for me. All I had to do was call the Town of Mooresville for a letter of reference and payment history and they would waive the deposit.

Anyway, not to bore you with the details, my point is I'm finding life here is so carefree and at school is its own little universe as well. When a mundane issue like the water deposit or my health insurance company not offering their plan in Wilmington (!), it is like a slap in the face that I still have the 'real world' to deal with.

Before I came here, it seems that's all I had to deal with were problems. It became my second nature and I grew to expect things to not work out so well.

I realized yesterday how wonderful things have become in my life that when those little aggravations arise, it just makes me realize how far I've come.

I also realize this isn't a fantasy. This is really my life now. That is something I will never lose sight of or not be thankful for every day.

I guess I'm not losing my identity I'm just growing as a person. Well, and maybe going through my second childhood!