Fruits Basket 20 day challenge day 1: How did you find out about Fruits Basket?

I discovered Fruits Basket at a friend's birthday party. It was at a Borders near the shopping area we walked around, and I couldn't put it down. A few days later, I bought the first book and went from there. It was a series that grew on me as I grew up. Each book I read, I related to in some way. The Sohmas were almost real with all their personalities influenced by their past, and I saw them through Tohru's eyes, and I fell in love with Kyo almost instantly. It wasn't an obsession, beacuse I didn't go overboard. I bought the books, read them, and admired the strength that Tohru had to be the glue that held everyone together. I'll admit that I wanted to be Tohru, more than anything. I wanted to be cheerful, kind, happy and trusting, but as the series went on, I discovered that I was much more like Kyo, in the way he viewed the world and himself. I'm not sure who I'd be if I never discovered Fruits Basket. Reading it helped me discover the truth about myself and others. How the world works and how important your point of view is. The characters each had a specific issue that they worked out, and I could relate to and understand many of them. In a way, Fruits Basket was my best literary friend. It got me through tough times and was almost heaven sent at the time I discovered it. It was the solution I found to viewing life through a different lense. Each chapter I read, I felt wiser and more aware of people, their actions, motivations and their personalities. It answered questions for me that I never had the courage to ask anyone. Most of them had to do wih right or wrong, good or bad and selfish or unselfish. Instead of saying that Fruits Basket saved me, but in a way that might be true, I will say that Fruits Basket helped me learn how to save myself from myself. That's probably why I reread it every year. It is a story etched in my heart, helping me grow and change with a new discovery each read. If I were ever to meet the author, which would be pretty incredible, I would thank her immeadiatelty for creating so many wonderful characters and helping them grow and change into the people they always wanted to be. Everyone has a story that speaks to them, and stays with them through out the years. For me, Fruits Basket is one of those tales that I plan to give to my children one day, and recommend it to their children. Yes, it's a manga, but if this story was in the form of a novel, it would be a revelation of the human condition and the ways of the world. It would be an instant classic that stood the test of time. And I can honestly say that I'm not sure who or where I would be if I had never discovered it when I did.