Hey guys. Wow, how do I even start this?

I've literally been gone for so long; it's insane. I just kind of left everyone and I can't even begin to explain how bad I feel for that. This message is for everyone, regardless of if you've applied to this or not. I want to let you guys know I love you all so much. I've made so many wonderful friends on this site that I feel like I've known all my life - relationships that go deeper than online, and ones I hold very dear to me. Leaving you guys wasn't something I wanted to do but having time off of this site was something I needed. I didn't plan on it being like seven months, but things don't always go as we hope for them to. As you all know, courtesy of my last update, my dad was diagnosed with cancer. This was August of 2017 when we found out, and that really hit my family hard. We've had a really rough go of things these past few months, dealing with chemo and surgeries - it was awful. It was a horrible experience, one I wish never to go through again. My father's cancer steadily got worse, despite us catching it at the early stages and it honestly seemed like the doctors couldn't do anything. He kept having to have treatment after treatment, and I can say that sometimes we really did think the worst. We've all just had a tough time, and I hope you all forgive me for being away from you guys so long but I needed to spend that time with my family. But, after all of this, I'm so freaking happy to say that my dad is final