Board Thread:Fun and Games/@comment-24187738-20151214152123/@comment-27462585-20151224094026

I guess the story starts with me saying I've never particularly liked my hometown. I wasn't totally miserable, but I dreamed for years about what it would be like to experience someplace new. A place that made me feel truly at home, where I could spread my wings and be free to be whoever I wanted to be. I wasn't a great student, so once I found the place I wanted to go to college, I worked my butt off so I would be able to pull my grades up enough to get accepted. And I did!! Moving there and starting a new life was so much fun, and I felt instantly at home. Making new friends, trying new activites, and living somewhere I loved for the first time in my life was amazing. It was everything I'd hoped it would be, and I felt like I'd flown to the top of the world.

And then I got very sick. Because I was so ill, everything I had worked and longed for got yanked out from under my feet with no warning. My life at school crumbled apart fast, and I had no choice but to drop out and return home. The pain of that was, and still sometimes is, crushing. Having a new life at a college that I loved was the only dream I've ever really had. With that gone, I didn't know what to do. How was it fair that I had worked so hard and failed anyways? So much for flying.

I spent over a year feeling completely lost. I had no direction, and I didn't really see the point in trying to find one when I knew that it was possible for me to lose it all without any serious wrongdoing on my part. Somewhere during that year, a close friend introduced me to Love Live. I can't remember exactly when it started being more than just a mobile game or an anime to me, but it has definitely evolved into something very dear to my heart. μ's  songs, melodies of doing your best with the help of the people around you, and of not giving in to sadness, and of hope, mean the world to me. They remind me of the happiness I felt while I was building my dream.

Love Live   helped me understand that I can still keep going. I'm not powerless. μ's  first attempt to win the Love Live ended pretty horribly, but that didn't stop them!! I want to be like them. I don't want one failure to stop me from getting up and trying again, even if it does have to be for a whole new dream.

Because despite the fact that it was fleeting, I did succeed. I got to where I wanted to be, and I will do it again.

In the words Honoka herself spoke before Sunny Day Song, I can fly whenever. Like I did back then! I never want to forget that, so I got a little something to help me always keep that message in my heart. :) http://imgur.com/lspah9A

I love Love Live with all my heart. I'll be eternally grateful to  μ's,  both the real and fictional versions, and I hope they can experience the same amount of joy they've given me.