If you organize your life around your passion, you can turn your passion into your story and then

turn your story into something bigger, something that matters.

Blake Mikoski.

I never thought this would be me, you know, the girl who lived in a one-bedroom trailer with

her fiancee and used a hairdryer to thaw out their window unit every night

so that we could sleep in the cold, cool bedroom. The girl whose mom hung her clothes on the line

and sewed her outfits because we couldn't afford those cute jumpers that everyone else wore to school.

The girl whose family remembers the day that they could finally afford new carpet for their home.

And they rolled around, we played steamroller for hours on the floor together with pure joy like I had never known.

The girl who just a few years ago was on government assistance to help feed her babies.

You know, that's a story I don't think I've ever publicly shared before, but it's true.

This isn't a joke. I won't try to say that I was the poorest because I know that I wasn't.

And I won't say that I don't have privilege because I know that I do. I don't want you to feel

sorry for the person that I was because I am so damn proud of the girl that I do. I don't want you to feel sorry for the person that I was because I am so

damn proud of the girl that I was and the girl that I am now. I was raised in a home with two parents

that loved each other and that's something to hang your hat on. My mom wanted to stay at home to

raise us and my daddy did what he had to do to make it work even if

that meant not seeing us until dinner every night he went door to door selling insurance you know

i've seen hard work i've seen tired eyes i've seen counting every cent that came in the door

i've learned about pinching pennies by watching the

thermostat to save the most money. I've gone to the laundry mat with my husband because we

didn't have a wash machine or dryer. So to think that that same little girl with bifocals at

...