As I slide into my seat on my flight from Chicago to Boston, the overly calm voice of the pilot informs us that this will be an "extremely bumpy flight". For some reason, it doesn't phase me in the least because I am feeling a huge sense of gratitude right now. I feel like I've somehow managed to find the majority of the puzzle pieces needed to construct a beautiful portrait of a life I couldn't have even dreamed of living. In the past two months, I've gone from doing t...