As One Door Closes...

I'm graduated!!

It's so weird, on one hand nothing really changed.. but on the other, my whole world has just shifted a little. All I've ever known is school, and not to say college isn't school, but I see higher education as a more voluntary, free (in the sense of 'I'm an adult and can do what I want' kind of way) experience quite unlike the past 13 years of my life.

Now I'm considered a real adult.

I'm graduated.

Done

Finished

Out of

Never have to go back

High school.

Its a good feeling. Amazing actually. And yet so nerve wracking at the same time..

The ceremony was long and a tad stressful, seeing as I had absolutely no idea what was going on. Mom, Dad, Amber, Bailey, Nikki, Annika, Karin, Marc, Julie.. thank you all for coming and sitting through all that. Although I must say, I quite enjoyed texting during the musical numbers..

The barbeque was awesome :)

Quote of the day goes to... somebody who would murder me in my sleep if I said his name ;) "You should see me in my Wranglers, then you can really see my legs."

All in all, a fantastic day.

Thank you everybody for making it special :)

"I need to find a man thats worth a damn that treats me well." 

-A. J.

Haha, sometimes Sunday night consists of bashing on boys and singing Gives You Hell...

Its actually quite therapeutic :)

Free :)

4 years ago I made a bet.

No kissing/ getting kissed until graduation.

Why would I do this you wonder??

Easy.

A car.

Uh-huh. And guess what. I got me a 2007 Hyundai Elantra and I'm absolutely lovin' it :)

Was it worth it?

Heck yes. Most definitely.

Would I do it again?

No. Probably not..

Honestly though, I think the memories alone have made the past couple months and years worth it. That and just the experience as a whole. I can without a doubt say I have learned a ton about myself. And you know what? I'm happy with what I see. I know that I can do anything I set my mind to, I just have to make it a priority. If I want something bad enough I can make it happen. 

That's what I learned :)

"You learn that in life you gain some

and you lose some."

Love you Dad

Close Call

2 weeks ago my perception of life changed.. I guess realizing that life can end in one unexpected moment can do that to a person.

The car fishtailed, we went in a ditch and flipped. I will always remember holding the door handle when the car turned, my head hitting the roof, feeling my neck crunch and looking at Bailey. A poof of dust when the glass shattered so thick I couldn't see her anymore. The pull as I still held the door, then completing the roll. 

Every second was minutes. An absence of sound and noise.

A moment of stillness as the dust cleared and the initial shock wore off. Bailey yelling my name, checking me for injuries, me simply happy she was talking and alive.

Crawling out my door, because hers was stuck. Assessing both ourselves, each other and the car.

Then walking home. 3 miles to be exact.

We had a lot of time to contemplate life and what had happened. We were lucky. Very lucky. No major injuries. Luck? No. Blessed.

Life is to be lived. In a single instant, life as you know it could be over. What if one of us had broken a limb? Back? Died? Life would never be the same. 

In the words of Channing Tatum, we are made up of moments of impact.

This was definitely one of them.

Everyone you see, each one of them is fighting a battle.

Sometimes it is impossible to tell, other times it is obvious.

Regardless of whether you think you know what the matter is

Just remember everyone is fighting something right now.

Remember this

Treat everyone with love

It will make the world a better place

Splat!

I saw this story and thought it was a great reminder for everybody to be more... I'm not sure exactly. Understanding? Willing to share? Nice? Ha I don't know, but it is a pretty good story.

A young lady was waiting for her flight in the boarding room of a big airport. As she would need to wait many hours, she decided to buy a book to spend her time. She also bought a packet of cookies. She sat down in an armchair, in the VIP room of the airport, to rest and read in peace. Beside the armchair where the packet of cookies lay, a man sat down in the next seat, opened his magazine and started reading. When she took out the first cookie, the man took one also. She felt irritated but said nothing. She just thought: "What a nerve! If I was in the mood I would punch him for daring!" For each cookie she took, the man took one too. This was infuriating her but she didn't want to cause a scene. When only one cookie remained she thought, "Ah, now what will this abusive man do now?" Then, the man, taking the last cookie, divided it into half, giving her one half. Ah! That was too much! She was much too angry now! In a huff, she took her book, her things and stormed to the boarding place. When she sat down in her seat, inside the plane, she looked into her purse to take her eyeglasses, and, to her surprise, her packet of cookies was there, untouched, unopened! She felt so ashamed!! She realized that she was wrong.. She had forgotten that her cookies were kept in her purse. The man had divided his cookies with her, without feeling angered or bitter... while she had been very angry, thinking that she was dividing her cookies with him. And now there was no chance to explain herself.. nor to apologize.

Wow. That was a lot longer than I expected. And the writing is terrible and I don't know if it's a true story or not... but regardless of all those things the message is the same. Don't jump to anger. Take of that what you will. Hopefully you have learned something good from this, I know I have.

Also.  

In communications we were talking about relationships. It was great.

Stanton likened relationships to pushing someone out of a building. You know those people who you don't want to have a long term relationship with but you don't want to hurt their feelings?? In the words of Mrs. Stanton and I quote (loosely.. it's not exact, I did the best I could remember):
"You're gonna kick a person out of a building but you don't want to hurt their feelings, so you drag them around and lead them on and soon enough you're on the 13th floor. That's when you kick them out. Either way they're falling out of the building, it's going to hurt, but see if you kick them out on the 1st floor there's a lot less splatter."

Then she went on to say if you take the elevator up to the 13th floor when the earthquake hits you can't find the stairs and you don't know how to get back down.


What I learned?
The best things in life take time