Some People

This is my all-time favorite poem and I wanted to share it with you.  It's a bit long, but I hope you'll read the entire thing.

SOME PEOPLE

Some people come into our lives
and leave footprints on our hearts
and we are never ever the same.

Some people come into our lives
and quickly go... Some stay for awhile
and embrace our silent dreams.

They help us become aware
of the delicate winds of hope...
and we discover within every human spirit
there are wings yearning to fly.

They help our hearts to see that
the only stairway to the stars
is woven with dreams...
and we find ourselves
unafraid to reach high.

They celebrate the true essence
of who we are...
and have faith in all
that we may become.

Some people awaken us
to new and deeper realizations...
for we gain insight
from the passing whisper of their wisdom

Throughout our lives we are sent
precious souls...
meant to share our journey
however brief or lasting their stay
they remind us why we are here.

To learn... to teach... to nurture... to love

Some people come into our lives
to cast a steady light
upon our path and guide our every step
their shining belief in us
helps us to believe in ourselves.

Some people come into our
lives to teach us about love...
The love that rests within ourselves.

Let us reach out to others
and feel the bliss of giving
for love is far richer in action
that it ever is in words.

Some people come into our lives
and they move our souls to sing
and make our spirits dance.

They help us to see that everything on earth
is part of the incredibility of life...
and that it is always there
for us to take of its joy.

Some people come into our lives
and leave footprints on our hearts
and we are never ever the same.

-by Flavia Weedn

I love this poem for so many reasons, but particularly because with each verse I think of someone different who has had an impact on my life and has shaped me into the woman that I am.  I believe in fate and I believe in a God who has hand-picked these people for me.  I am so thankful for these people- those who have been in my life for a while, those who I've only just met, and those who have left.  I look forward to new people moving my spirit to dance and leaving footprints on my heart.

I sometimes ask myself "if special people have been placed in my life to help me, whose lives have I been placed in to help them?"  I'll probably never know, but I like to think I've helped at least one person.  The thought of making an impact in someone's life fulfills me, and with that thought, I'll sleep sweetly tonight.

AJ

Picking Up Again

It's safe to say my first attempt at blogging did not go too well since I wrote three posts and then fell off the face of the earth, but I've decided to get back up and try again.

Since my last post my life "got flipped, turned upside down" as Will Smith puts it in the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song.  The long distance relationship that I mentioned in my first post came to a very abrupt end.  If you don't know me well, then you will never understand what this has done to me, unless you too have invested 7 years into a relationship only to be blindsided with the truth that you are no longer loved.  If you do know me well, then this is not new news to you.

Over the past 3 months, my mother has been my greatest supporter.  She has felt my pain and emotion with me and without her my coping process would not be going as it is.  She keeps me company when I feel lonely, she listens when I speak, she encourages me when I want to quit.  She has loved me when I felt unlovable, and given me a place to run when I wanted to feel safe.  She has given me courage and strength.  If time heals all wounds, then she is doing her best to make sure time passes as quickly as possible for me.

I thought that my mom was "retired" now that both her children are out of the house.  She did a fantastic job raising us and now gets to spend her days however she wants as opposed to chauffeuring, tutoring, and cleaning up after my brother and I.  I'm learning now that a mother's job does not simply end once her children leave.  If anything, it gets more difficult.  She has to mother us from a distance, and might spend most of her time with her fingers crossed, hoping that we make good decisions.  As we grow up, so do our problems, concerns, and fears, and a mother has to be ready at a moments notice to dispel the latest issue.  Whereas I once fell off my bike and needed help up, I now am broken-hearted and need mending.  It may take more time and effort, but she is certainly still up to the challenge.

I know that one day I'll get to be a mother, and I honestly do hope that I will get to be the mother that my mom has been for me.  I also know, that my mom will be with me, mothering me as I go.

AJ

Clark W. Griswald

For Father's Day (albeit the day before) my dad was not so fortunate as some (arguably).  He did not get to go to the lake or pool, grill steaks, drink beer, watch sports, or any other thing dads like to do on their day.  He got to move his only daughter and oldest child (me) into her first apartment.  Moving sucks.  It doesn't matter how you look at it.  But let me explain this Saturday and the tremendous role he played...

He got up shortly after dawn to go get the U-Haul with me.  He then drove the U-Haul through downtown Houston (not an easy task) to go to an apartment to purchase a couch that I had found on Craigslist.  While there, he watched from outside the gate, while I, inside the gate, backed his SUV into the gate.  After being more than understanding. he then tried to move aforementioned couch out of the seller's apartment, only to find out the couch does not fit though the front door (mover's must have hoisted it over the balcony).  We therefore left the apartment couchless.  Once home, he then loaded all my belongings, including two dressers, a desk, a filing cabinet of sorts, two book cases, a matress and box springs, and a giant box full of shoes, into the U-Haul and his SUV.  He then took a lunch break during which he ate a sandwhich and talked on the phone with his brother-in-law and father about selling his father's house since he has moved into a nursing home (a stressful conversation).  Following lunch, he drove the U-Haul to a suburb north of Houston to buy a kitchen table and chairs that I had also found on Craigslist.  He paid for the table/chairs and loaded them into the U-Haul as well.  He then drove the U-Haul an hour and a half to Bryan, TX.  Upon arriving in Bryan, he paid my first month's rent, and proceeded to unload the U-Haul and SUV, carrying my belongings up three flights of stairs to my third floor apartment in the 102 degree Texas  heat.  Once the truck and car were unloaded, he got to eat a burrito at Freebirds, only to rush me back to the apartment to meet the maintenance man who was there to fix the air conditioner that had not been cooling the apartment all day.  He then got to unpack some boxes and return the U-Haul to the College Station location.  Finally, he got  to go take a shower and go to bed.

In a blog about people, I have to be honest in saying that my dad is a pretty typical dad, much like Clark in the movie Vacation.  He would do anything for his family, and we are a much better family because of him.  I love him dearly and admire him for reasons he doesn't even know.  I'm proud of him for everything he is able to accomplish without sacrificing his time for his family, and I hope that next Father's Day, he'll be able to be a father in a more enjoyable way.

AJ

The Hoodrat Kid

I believe that people are inherently good, but that the pressures of life make them do bad things sometimes.  With that being said, I am still completely guilty of judging a person based on the way they look, and I think you're lying if you try to deny the fact that you do too.  Without stereotypes we'd all just be wandering around the world like lost puppies not knowing what to think, who to trust, and who to avoid.  We would probably have fewer social issues, but it would also be way too time consuming.  We would spend all our time getting to know people and then would get nothing else accomplished.  However, as we all know, stereotypes are not always accurate, and can sometimes leave us feeling pleasantly surprised.

Yesterday I was studying at the West Campus Library at my school.  It was late when I was leaving, and since I am new to town and campus I didn't really know how safe it would be to walk by myself to my car.  I was a little apprehensive.  I didn't have to go far so I just told myself to suck it up and be a big kid.  Let it be known that I go to school in a relatively small college town with a low crime rate, but also that being attacked is one of my biggest fears regardless of where I am.  Not seconds after walking out of the library I was approached by a hoodrat looking kid, who was smoking while on his skateboard.  The type that I would usually expect to be trouble.  For a split second my heart rate sped up because I had no clue why this kid was running at me in the dark.  Come to find out, he was hurrying to hold the door for a woman walking into the library with her hands full.  And at that moment, I was pleasantly surprised.

AJ

Off I go!

So I suppose this is the awkward introductory post that you will read and then judge to decide whether or not I'm worthy of your time every now and again.  Well lets just jump right in!

I decided to start blogging this morning around 11:00am after I finished reading a good friend's blog.  She inspires me to do a lot in life and I guess we should add this to the list.  If your interested, you can check her blog out now.  You are under no obligation to return to this one.  For those who decide to stay, let us continue with the introduction.  I am working on my master's degree in marketing and now that I think about it, this blog might help me to get a job one day.  Social media is the newest way to target customers and now I can prove that I have blogging experience!  I'll keep you posted on how this theory plays out.  I am currently in a LDR (Long Distance Relationship for those non-Cosmo readers).  I expect that to pop into my writing every now and again as it is a recent development in my life.  He is not the recent development, the LDR is.

When trying to pick a theme for my blog I considered the things that I enjoy to do and that  I am good at doing.  This includes using post-it notes, napping, texting, and eating junk food-- all of which are extrememly boring and/or very difficult to blog about.  Finally, I recalled a conversation (via texting) that I had with a friend a couple weeks ago.  He was weirded out by my ability to predict which of his favorite activities he was doing at that moment (A: golfing) and I told him that he's not that hard to figure out because I am a people-watcher.  Lightbulb!  This blog is mostly about people.  People I see, people I interact with, people I love, people I despise, etc.  If you've been keeping count, I've already discussed 5 different people in this post-- me, you, blogging friend, boyfriend, and golfing friend-- I'm on a roll!  So as not to offend anyone, I will never use names of people, only adjectives.  This keeps you guessing, which I imagine to be both fun and frustrating.

I think its time to end this introduction, because if it keeps going you'll get bored and quit, if you haven't already.  I hope your judgement of me is fair, and that you decide to check back every now and again.  Who knows... I might blog about you, and you will want to make sure it's nice.

AJ