Hi Steemit! Here's to New Beginnings!

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First and foremost, I want to say hello! Yes, my husband is @JerryBanfield. He is so very passionate about this community and that is a big part of the reason I'm here!

This is my first post, which is perfect because I have been thinking about new beginnings a lot lately. I just came home from cuddling with my four day old baby niece and seeing my sister and brother-in-law take on that role of new parents got me reminiscing. Becoming a mom is one of the biggest new beginnings I have ever experienced. After 9 months of being pregnant and 23 hours of labor, I met my daughter Madeleine and knew my life would never be the same ever again. It was as if someone had carved out my heart and it was now out in the world. All I wanted to do was hold her forever.

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My journey to motherhood was also filled with new beginnings. When I went to college, I traded the beaches and perpetually warm weather of Florida, for the seasons and especially brutal winters of Boston. I traded life close to childhood friends and family for the potential to build a home away from home and a new family of friends in a new city. This was a great and difficult challenge for me as I was notoriously shy and a total introvert.

In college, I learned that, to borrow a line from Winnie the Pooh, that I was braver than I believed, stronger than I seemed, and smarter than I thought. I also realized that the world needed help and I made it my mission to do my part. That's why I joined Americorp right out of college.

The Americorp program I joined based me completely across the country at an Air Force base in Sacramento, CA. There I met the 12 people I would be spending the next 10 months traveling, volunteering, and leaving with. We first were sent to New Orleans to help rebuild the city in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. I had the chance to speak to people who had lost loved ones, lost pets, lost their house, and lost everything they owned. It was a humbling experience to really see that my problems were not real problems. These people had lost everything. They were still fighting with insurance companies to be compensated for their losses. I knew that this wasn't the way it should be. These people must have legal rights that they didn't know about. That's when I decided to go to law school. I wanted to be the voice of people who were all too often silenced by others. My Americorp team went on to build migrant worker housing in Southern California, build houses for low income families in Mobile, Alabama, and work in the Sacramento Food Bank. I found out I was accepted into law school and thus went on to my next new beginning.

Law school terrified me. Put a quiet, introverted person like me, a person who hates being wrong or not knowing an answer, in a classroom where they will be randomly called on and thoroughly questioned (the Socratic method is brutal) and it will lead to severe anxiety, loss of appetite, and loss of sleep. I funneled most of this anxiety into a bad relationship I had with a drug addict for almost three years. I would pour my emotions into trying to "fix" him and focus all of my mental strength into succeeding in law school. Not the healthiest of arrangements, but I did great in school, broke up with said boyfriend upon realizing he was not for me to fix, and decided to try online dating right before I took the Florida Bar Exam.

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My dad said online dating was for losers. I did it anyways. I think it took a lot longer for my parents' generation to realize that meeting someone online had just as much, if not more, potential than meeting someone randomly while out and about. Match.com provided me with my next new beginning: dating my husband. We moved in together after six months of dating, got engaged four months later, and were married within two years of our first meeting. The life we have built together is far and away one of my greatest adventures. You will notice as I post more here on Steemit that we have very different personalities and I hope to make my own, unique contribution to this ever-growing, ever-evolving community.

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Warm Wishes,
Laura

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Welcome on Steemit Laura! I enjoyed reading you.

hi @laurabanfield good post my friends
i have fellow your account
so i need you to support me on steemit
nice to meet you
thank

Bernie makes Laura's reputation ever lower and lower. I don't know why he is so angry. I know he had a conflict with Dan Larimer.

@teamsteem thank you for the warm welcome here and the top upvote on the post so far!

Please stop upvoting this moron scammer! EVERYTHING he is charging people for is available for FREE! DO NOT SUPPORT THE SCAMMER @jerrybanfield!!

Why is there a conflict between you and bernie?

In the last picture you look like some actress I've seen, but unfortunately I can't remember from what show, can just recall her voice... Has anyone told you that you look like some particular actress?

The girl from True Blood.. Anna Camp?
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That's who came to mind too, when i saw your photo for the first time haha. :D

yes, that's her! I knew I had some mixed feeling about her even though she is very pretty, I think she played a religious zealot on True Blood, IIRC -)

@minority-report you may not realize how much you have helped me already just with your comment on my wife @laurabanfield's first post because you have helped me see her the way you do. In six years of dating and almost five years of marriage, I never remember hearing or thinking Laura looked like Anna Camp until you mentioned it. With seeing my wife every day, I can easily forget how grateful I am to be with her and your comment gave me a way mentally to remember how beautiful she is in every situation. Thank you for making what I think was your first comment on Laura's post and for helping me to be a good husband to her each day!

Dear @minority-report


I appologize for puting this irrelevant post here but I wanted to thank you on your efforts on stoping this arrogant @grumpycat.

road so far & action plan : https://steemit.com/life/@firedream/stop-the-grumpycat

your much appreciated efforts:

FD.

yes, that's her!

@minority-report thank you very much for the warm welcome here and your upvote!

How is it possible that so many high SP holders discovered this post, first ever on Steemit, and already rewards bringing the post to HOT and TRENDING channel. Can you give me the Circle Jerking lesson!?

because jerry mentioned it in his blog...and people came....that's a proof that his blog is highly read and followed

None of the top voters (except teamsteem) wrote a comment to this post, that in itself tells a lot, meaning, this account is already on auto vote with some or (probably) more of the top voters.

To me it looks like proof that steem works. You get paid for your time and valuable contributions either way. AND paid to stake STEEM as steem power on the network :)

Is it? Steemit and Steem is in the hands of a few, and power is by far from equally distributed, driven by those who created it with super hyper inflation until dec 2016 getting the founders and some others rich and powerful. Most valuable votes are casted on auto vote to the same authors over and over again. That is the truth! Your comment is not describing the reality and you get rewarded. My comment is more closer to the truth and it didn't get rewarded. So, what is Value? Truth seems not to be the value here at Steemit, but Dreams are so it seems.

You are absolutely right. Sorry, too late for upvoting.

At least I can reward you :)

agree

Hi @laurabanfield, This is my very first post on any of your posts. You've put your emotions in this piece of writing nicely. This passage depicts the true feelings of a mom:

Becoming a mom is one of the biggest new beginnings I have ever experienced. After 9 months of being pregnant and 23 hours of labor, I met my daughter Madeleine and knew my life would never be the same ever again. It was as if someone had carved out my heart and it was now out in the world. All I wanted to do was hold her forever.

We all are different and unique human beings. So, there is no comparison at all. The best thing is you know who you are and the people around you. This helps treating them accordingly and giving them the space they want.

Law school terrified me. Put a quiet, introverted person like me, a person who hates being wrong or not knowing an answer, in a classroom where they will be randomly called on and thoroughly questioned (the Socratic method is brutal)...

I've experienced this myself and it still saddens me when I think of my class mates getting going through such a situation. I was a very good student but the memories of other class room for this outdated socratic Methodology still saddens me. I myself am an introvert. I guess your personality is INFJ, right?

Your husband @jerrybanfield is a superstar and guru here at Steemit. Like thousands of other Steemians he's the one who brought me to this platform through one of his YouTube videos. So, that makes you little more special for us all.

I hope you start posting more often.

Keep sharing, caring and inspiring the world. The world badly needs the positive energy as there is so much negativity in it already. I hope you can play your part. Wishing you best of luck. Stay awesome. You got my unconditional support.

Steem On.

Hey I'm an INFJ as well!! It sometimes shows through the things that I post on here. It's great to see another INFJ on here, I guess we're super rare or something 😝 I'm looking forward to your posts even more now, knowing that you're also an INFJ.

Hi @laurabanfield, Your response is hidden but I was able to read it. So, my guess about your personality was correct. Wow, I can start making tons of money by telling other people about their personalities. :D By the way, your husband look very healthy in this photo:

I think he started exercising lately. Or may be, the time that he is gave to Steemit, ate up all his fats. :D He still looks smart.

Steem On!

@ugetfunded I think you are on to something! I have worked at places that pay big money to people to conduct personality tests on employees and potential employees. There is definitely a market for this talent of yours!

Congratulations! You're married to the biggest scammer on Steemit! How does it feel? I hope you enjoy mass flags as much as he does because you'll be receiving a lot of them!

@berniesanders thank you for taking the time to comment. I'm not sure about the whole "scammer" thing, but I very much enjoy being married to @jerrybanfield

yay my down vote on bernie's post took away around 60 cents :D not sure how anyone can "scam" on steemit either... haters gunna hate :)

Hello and welcome to Steemit ✌️

Welcome to Steemit @laurabanfield , I am a big fan of your Hubby and he is a Wizard. You both looks perfect together and are made for each other. What a Lovely couple! You Really Completes @jerrybanfield and you have a very cute Daughter . I do admire Banfield family alot. Get going Guys and Rock the Steemit , Once Again , Welcome Mam , I am sure you will also surprise us just like your hubby. Have a great Day :)

Bienvenida a Steemit @laurabanfield disfruté leyendo tu post, hermosa familia y esos perros están divinos! Ahora te sigo y estaré pendiente de tus publicaciones, te invito a pasarte por mi perfil y pienso que podrías ayudarnos mucho en nuestro grupo de facebook "Steemit Colombia" donde podrás ganas más votos para tus publicaciones! saludos...

Finally you made it. It is probably the choice to make when you man can not escape the Steemit magnet, wish my wife would make the same decision :-)