my name is veronica and i am 18 years old and pregnant with a beloved mistake. i'm living with my fiance and his amazing mom because my father considers this to be the downfall of my life. i am not religious in any way and i am a firm believer in the woman's right to choose. i had the right to choose. this isn't the choice i'd ever have thought i'd make until that plus sign was staring me in the face. i had my first ultrasound last week and we discovered that we're having a baby boy (much to his momma's despair, she wanted a little girl, haha). i got what i wanted--he's healthy. i am not the girl anyone would expect to get herself impregnated. i've been with donald for over a year, the longest relationship by far that i've ever had. i was home schooled until my junior year of high school whereupon i began taking ap and honors classes and planning my escape from my parents' (namely my father's) tyrannical grip. i knew i could only do this through a solid education. i just graduated in june and i've started my first year of higher learning at a local state college. i won a scholarship through a creative writing contest placed in all the counties of florida that the college's campuses can be found. i won first place for three poems that i wrote for completely different purposes and submitted only because my ap literature teacher made it a mandatory assignment for the class. the judge who gave my poems first place and me free tuition for two years is now my english comp. II profressor. i'm majoring in environmental engineering, i love science and i want to do something significant with my life. saving the world would seem to fall along those lines. i'm a nerd, i love learning, i love school. i'm taking seven classes and i find it easier than my senior year of high school. i'm a vegetarian if i had to pick a fashion that i enjoy adhering to i'd have to go with hippie. i'm a peacemonger and donald was an aspirant marine. we're very different at first glance but we've discovered many more ways that we're alike. he was my first summer love and for me those feelings never really wore off. i'm not average and i'm not ashamed of it. i'm a dreamer. even as life continues to crash into my hopes and dreams uninvited i still try to keep faith. and faith in yourself is the hardest thing to have.