twelve years.

Think about yourself ten years ago.
What were you like then?
How much have you changed?
What would people who knew you then say about you now?
Ten years ago I was an eighteen year old kid. Drank until my head spun, did whatever drugs I could get. In an awful, abusive relationship because I couldn't deal with my feelings properly regarding the one before. I was a poor, sad nothing.
A fight in a video store changed my path, opened my eyes. I got away. I changed.
Now, I'm twenty eight. I haven't done drugs since I got away. Haven't smoked in years. I drink only socially. I'm rounder, softer than I was when all I needed to live were drugs and alcohol. I'll learn to live with that.
People who knew me, who haven't seen me since then, make comments about my differences. I laugh them off, think to myself: No. This is me. This is who I always have been.
Only later do I realize that they were right.
So you are left to wonder. Is that change that they saw in you a good thing? How do you look now to them? Is that extra softness something to be embarrassed about? Did they like you better when you were always high?
It's a bit maddening, really.
Here's hoping thirty eight won't be as drastic.