You could say I'm the small town girl aiming for a dream to call my own! When living in a town like Myrtle Beach it's really hard to make yourself known and make yourself stand out, but sometimes it's not what you do to stand out it's what you do for others that makes you stand out! 

Ever since I was little I knew what I wanted to do with my life and I still hold that near and dear to my heart! It's super rare for someone to know what they want to do for the rest of their lives at such a young  age! I was 4 years old singing 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton on a stool at my grandparents house and my mom really tuned into what I was doing! She saw potential and immediately put me into vocal lessons and the rest is history! 

I was always going from vocal coach to vocal coach, always eager to learn and really took a piece of what they taught me and kept it with me! But little did I know that 10 years later I was about to face a huge challenge that could potentially end everything.

At 14 years old, most girls are thinking about what boy they are going to like next or who followed them on Instagram, but for me I was in and out of the doctor's office and fighting the urge to give up on everything once my doctor told me that I needed to immedietly go see a cardiologist. On December 20th, 2012, my life flashed before my eyes, after being sick ongoing for a couple years I finally understood why! I had an ASD, which is an Atrial Septal Defect (let me put this in English) it's a hole in the top two chambers of your heart, which means that the blood wasn't flowing into the bottom two chambers, it was just swirling in my heart! Now if that wasn't a shock to everyone I don't know what is! The doctor said, "There is only two ways to fix this catherization or open-heart surgery! After attempting the cath and it failing we immedietly had to take action with the open-heart surgery.

So, on February 6th, 2013, I went to MUSC to have open-heart surgery with the best surgeon and team out there! After 6 hours, I was good to go, all stitched up and fully fixed! Many people often ask me how I got through such a chaotic time, I can only simply say this, God was the reason that I got through everything that I went through! If I didn't have God there right by my side the whole time I don't know what I would have done! Okay, it was really hard for me to let go and let him have the control but in the end I trusted in him fully because he is the ultimate power over all of our lives and whatever happened I knew that he loved me no matter what. 

Whats crazy is that after surgery, I felt like a new person! I finally came in contact with some great people in Atlanta  who I work with now that are helping me achieve my dream to be on the big stage and perform for thousands of people! And I also found my voice really early on in high school, I knew what I wanted to do and I knew I had to get my head on straight and focus on whats really important, God, my family, real/true friends and my career that I've been working so hard for! 

Through my 17 years on this earth I have experienced things that will really open your eyes and appreciate everyday that you have! Life is so short and you have to live it to the fullest, because I would hate to look back at my life one day and regret somethings that I didn't do! Give yourself up fully and work hard to achieve your goals because when I'm old and wrinkly I want to be able to say, "I rocked my life and get my full self to everything that came my way!" 

~So teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom

                                                                            -Proverbs 27:1 

                                                                                        -Connor Nicole :)