It's difficult to think about my high school years. For as important as they were to forming me into the man I am today I look back on the teen I was with a lot of regret and embarrassment. I was a close-minded, stubborn, and sheltered kid that preferred staying in my own bubble of toxic comfort rather than accept the fact that I needed to grow both for my sake and the sake of others. Subconsciously I knew that something I had to give, I could tell that I had the power to affect the people around me no matter my intentions. And from there, I slowly changed myself to be better, kinder, more understanding. I may have been young, but I was no longer a kid. Funnily enough, that journey started in 2015 when I decided to join my school's theatre program.

It was that decision that brought me out of my comfort zone and into a greater world of community and art. One that introduced me to most of my closest friends in adolescence, friends that I still think about and occasionally catch up with all these years later. That's not to say that I immediately became better, that I didn't ever embarrass myself or act regrettably. I had to work to be better, and even when things got so bad that I'd wish for a total do-over, or even to just cast that world away for good, I managed to keep going. And that couldn't have happened without the wonderful people I met nearly 10 years ago.

It's hard not to feel reflective when playing this game. In it's short runtime Toby Fox's writing makes such a strong impact that feels so much more alive and tender than practically anything else you could compare it to. And that was clearly felt all over the world when the game dropped, it was inescapable. Replaying this game, for maybe the first time in my adult life, brought me back to that time; warts and all. And for as much as it hurt to remember the person I was, it was also cathartic to think about who I am now and be proud.