I've been an Avatar fan from the very beginning. I remember seeing Book 1 Chapters 1 & 2 the Saturday after they premiered on Nickelodeon when I was 11 years old, and I've loved it ever since. It fed into my growing interests in history, Asian cultures, and storytelling; but on a more personal note, it came into my life at a time when I really needed it.

I wasn't in the best place emotionally at that point in my life. A year and a half before Avatar came out, a very close friend of mine had passed away and in a lot of ways, I was still coming to grips with that. Avatar provided a much-needed distraction, something I could look forward to week to week that was fun. I fell in love with the world and even more its characters almost immediately and I wanted to see what would happen next. Aang has always been one of my favorite characters and that's probably because, especially in book 1, his fun-loving, can-do attitude, selflessness, and just overall love of life, despite the fact that he'd already been through a lot, reminded me of the friend I had lost, and that helped me remember all the fun we had without thinking about how it all ended. Watching Avatar became almost healing for me because it gave me something to look forward to while also helping me remember the good parts of the past without having to think about times I wished I could forget.

What about you? HOw has Avatar touched your life? To you relate to any of the characters more than others? Do any of them remind you of anyone you know?