❝ i have no secrets, only dirty shame ❞

By the time the series first starts we already see Jenna as the newly (attempted) responsible adopted guardian of two teenagers, but for a moment let's take a step back, because really, Jenna is anything but responsible. From what we hear about after the fact, she was a bit of a partier. She used to drink heavily, use drugs, and all in all lived the kind of life that anyone without responsibilities would relish in. She didn't need to be responsible, and she could just run away from responsibilities without any worries. And that's what Jenna did, for years. She even says as much to Elena, that she fled town because of her train wreck of a relationship history. It's a luxury of being a young, normal woman in your late twenties with only a thesis to worry about. Running is easy, and Jenna loved the easy way out.

And then her sister dies.

It would be nice to say such a huge event brings on a completely new Jenna. It would be great if she managed to completely turn her life around and become a totally different person, a good mature and responsible guardian, but that isn't how things work. After almost thirty years of living according to her own agenda, it doesn't come naturally to her. She struggles, as anyone would, and as put so aptly by the writers "instead of packing school lunches, she hands her charges power bars and coffee". Some people take longer to adjust to new situations than others, and in Jenna's case, this one in particular was not easy for her at all. After all, she didn't just become a parent overnight, she became a parent to two teenagers, and that was a huge adjustment for someone who previously had only ever had to really prioritise herself.

❝ do i look adult? as in, respectfully parental? ❞

Learning curve or not, Jenna does care deeply for her charges, and the sudden added responsibility does change her for the better. While she isn't exactly packing sandwiches in brown paper bags and making organic home cooked dinners, she tries, and she cares. Being a parental figure to her niece and nephew give Jenna a certain purpose in her life that she had previously been lacking, and though she steps into the shoes reluctantly at first she later admits that she "can't imagine that she almost turned down the two of them". Parenthood is the most challenging thing Jenna ever does, and the thing that changes her the most - and we see this development happening over the course of the series. From the first episode onwards we see a steady progression as Jenna slowly starts to relax into her role as guardian. Where early on she tends to cycle aggressively between extremes (sending the two off with only coffee in the morning vs. snooping in Jeremy's bedroom for evidence of drug use) that starts to calm down as she trusts both her niece and nephew more, but also herself. By the second season Jenna has really begun to shine. Admittedly it isn't often seen, due to her being kept in the dark for most of the major plot points of the series, but from what we do get to see she is far less extreme and certainly more comfortable. Of course it's around then that shit hits the fan but that's television for you.

❝ i'll be nice when damon learns to keep his paws off of you ❞

As demonstrated by her taking guardianship, Jenna is fiercely loyal towards those she considers family. With her sister and brother in law dead that circle has become a little smaller and more guarded, for the people who are a part of it her loyalty knows no bounds. From determinedly standing up for her niece in the face of the boyfriend's handsy brother to pointing a crossbow at her own boyfriend while under the belief that he was being possessed by an evil entity, the lengths that Jenna will go to to protect her "family" - both blood and otherwise - are well above and beyond normal expectations. Even in her last moments we see this fierce protectiveness, willing to sacrifice herself if only to give Elena a precious chance to live just a little longer. (Of course, it doesn't pay off, but that isn't relevant to the here or now except to harsh everyone's vibes a little.)

Though her blood family has shrunk, Jenna has made up for it with a close circle of friends. She's seen to have a tight bond with people from her childhood and past, notable examples including her babysitter Kelly Donovan and her high school friend Mason Lockwood. While they aren't "sacrifice my life to save you" levels of close, she's quick to defend them when others criticise, and she shows a definite investment in the (romantic) life of friends as she is seen setting a friend up. As with anyone there are obviously varying levels of investment based on the closeness of the person, but through it all Jenna certainly proves that she cares about what happens to each and every one of the important people in her life, and when she does care she does so deeply and without much restraint at all.

❝ logan isn`t the only loser i've dated ❞

Which touches on one particular point: Jenna's absolute train wreck of a relationship history. Although not a particularly significant thing, it is certainly worth mentioning, if only because of a rather clear pattern of both a) having rather poor judgement of character and b) making the same mistakes over and over again. Whether through the desire to see the good in him, or just because he was that smooth a talker, Jenna let the man who cheated on her and caused her to literally flee town talk her into having dinner - and from having dinner he managed to talk her into trying things again. Granted it wasn't exactly his fault he then got killed (because the town is absolutely crawling with vampires) but it does speak to certain poor decision making skills that Jenna holds, particularly when it comes to men. She mentions several times that she's dated quite a few of that type too, and it isn't until her main relationship of the series that she begins to start doing something right. Even that is fraught with issues, due to her being kept in the dark about the supernatural elements of Mystic Falls, and it comes to a head with some meddling from -- you guessed it -- another semi-ex of hers (who also happens to be her sister's husband's brother....and her niece's real father. it's complicated).

The point is, particularly when it comes to romance, Jenna is not exactly the queen of great life choices. She has a bit of a weakness for the typical bad boy tropes, a certain lack of self control when it comes to people who know the right buttons to push, and displays a lot of poor decision making skills when it comes to her handling of men in general, really. Despite her growing as a parent/guardian to Jeremy and Elena, this is one aspect of her life that really takes a lot to improve - and while it does and we see this in her later relationship with Alaric, Jeremy and Elena's history teacher, it is obvious that it's still an area she struggles with greatly.

❝ tonight i have traded you for señor tequila." ❞

And while we're talking about weaknesses, alcohol should be mentioned. While she is by no means an alcoholic (and given the whole sister's husband's brother and her boyfriend's dead wife turning out to be her sister's adopted daughter's parents it's rather understandable) Jenna does have a bit of a penchant for a drink. Where in her early college days the escape of choice was marijuana (and likely alcohol too), later in life it takes the form of a glass of wine. Honestly, it becomes a rarity to see her without one in hand -- and though it is remarkably justified given the sort of things that go down over the year after her sister dies, it certainly shows that one thing that hasn't changed over the years is her need for some kind of escape - be it literal running from her problems, or the more abstract numbing of reality in the forms of substance use.

❝ i don’t have it in me to hear any more lies from you. ❞

She has a temper too, something we see far more of in the second season due to circumstance. She lashes out at her boyfriend a few times over his continual lying to her, as well as her brother in law John Gilbert (who catches most of it) and even at times her niece when it is revealed that they have all been keeping secrets from her. One thing that Jenna can't abide (unsurprising, given her history) is lies, and when deeply hurt in ways like this, by the people she cares about most, her response is to snap. And while she does eventually come around, understands that it is remarkably hard to be honest about the kinds of things Elena and Alaric were hiding from her, it is still the lies that she struggles with more than the sudden revelation of the supernatural presence in their home town. Jenna is a woman with a very specific moral guideline, a standard she sets not only for herself but also for the people around her, and when they breach that trust she struggles to keep her cool.

❝ last year i was a grad student who smoked a lot of pot and couldn’t keep a goldfish alive, and now i’m a parent. so i think i can handle anything, ric ❞

Ultimately, Jenna is adaptable. It is the most prevalent thing about her, the one constant through her time in the series. Not many people would be able to adapt to parenthood overnight, and yet Jenna took on the challenge with only a moment of apprehension. Even as curveball after curveball are thrown at her, Jenna still manages to keep her head above water, from the reveal of Elena's true parentage to the rather huge revelation that her boyfriend's "dead" wife was in fact very much alive. Even the knowledge that her home town was positively covered with creatures that go bump in the night wasn't enough to knock her off her game for long. Of course, the initial moment of reveal saw her screaming and running, but less than a day later she arms herself with a crossbow that she has likely never shot and is prepared to defend herself and her family. Life has tossed Jenna a lot of hurdles to jump, far more than any one person should have to deal with in one lifetime, but somehow she's managed to navigate her way through them all and stay herself in the mean time.

...Until she very much isn't herself any more, but that's a story for a later date.

Honestly, Jenna isn't all that suited to somewhere like Snowblind, in the sense that it isn't at all like anything she has ever encountered before in her life time. For all intents and purposes she is a normal human, from a normal town where nothing out of the ordinary happens. That said, she absolutely has the capacity to handle it. She isn't yet at this point in her canon, but not long from where she is taken from she will find out about the supernatural nature of her home town, and while she initially struggles with this news (who wouldn't?) she takes it in her stride. The thing that distresses her most is not the fact that there are vampires and werewolves running around, or that her niece is dating one, or that they're trying to kill her - it's the fact that everyone around her was lying that Jenna struggles with the most. She even wields a crossbow when her (no longer, unknown to her) possessed boyfriend makes an appearance. Ultimately, while she might not have had these canon experiences yet she absolutely shows the capacity to handle the Big Scary Stuff. She might not be the strongest, the fastest, the best fighter or the most experienced at the challenges the setting has to offer, but she is by no means about to let that get the better of her.