To realize
The value of a sister,
Ask someoneWho doesn't have one.

To realizeThe value of ten years,
Ask a newlyDivorced couple.

To realize
The value of four years,
Ask a graduate.

To realizeThe value of one year,
Ask a student who
Has failed a final exam.

To realize
The value of nine months,
Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.

To realizeThe value of one month,
Ask a motherwho has given birth to
A premature baby.

To realize
The value of one week,
Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.

To realizeThe value of one minute,
Ask a person
Who has missed the train, bus or plane.

To realize
The value of one-second,
Ask a person
Who has survived an accident.

Time waits for no one
Treasure every moment you have.
You will treasure it even more when
you can share it with someone special

To realize the value of a friend or family member:
LOSE ONE.

Greatest News Ever

As most of you know, I am planning on making my big move to Fairbanks. Today I found out some very great news. My boss is willing to open an office in Fairbanks so I do not have to quit my job. Now I will be able to live with the love of my life and keep the job I love. I cannot think how life can be any greater.

A Woman's Poem

He didn't like the casserole
And he didn't like my cake.
He said my biscuits were too hard...
Not like his mother used to make.
I didn't perk the coffee right
He didn't like the stew,
I didn't mend his socks
The way his mother used to do.
I pondered for an answer
I was looking for a clue.
Then I turned around and smacked the shit out of him...
Just like his mother used to do

My heart is in Fairbanks.

"When you meet someone you want to spend the rest of your life with, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible."

For me, May cannot come fast enough. But then again, the weekend after next cannot come fast enough. Spring break cannot come fast enough. I want to relish this time. The "honeymoon phase" as my sister, Sherry, called it today. How slow the hours go by that I'm waiting to see my love. Some of you think I'm crazy for deciding to move to Fairbanks. Leave my home of eighteen years, leave my job of four years, and go off into the unknown. The "crap hole of Alaska" as Erica so beautifully put it. :) It may be a crap hole and it may be cold as all hell. It may be HELL for all that matters, but you know what? There's someone there who I would walk through fire for, and that's all that matters. There are no guarantees in life, all I have is the time that is given and the people in my life who bring me happiness. How lucky I am to have found someone who loves me like Daniel does. How lucky I am to be able to go after my heart.

HOW TO STAY YOUNG ...

1. Throw out non-essential numbers.This includes age, weight, and height.Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay them.

2. Keep only cheerful friends.The grouches pull you down.(Keep this in mind if you are one of those grouches!)

3. Keep learning:Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever.Never let the brain get idle. "An idle mind is the devil's workshop."And the devil's name is Alzheimer's!

4. Enjoy the simple things

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.And if you have a friend who makes you laugh, spend lots and lots of time with her/him!

6. The tears happen:Endure, grieve, and move on.The only person who is with us our entire life, is our self.LIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love:Whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever.Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health:If it is good, preserve it.If it is unstable, improve it.If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips.Take a trip to the mall, even to a foreign country, but NOT to where theguilt is.

10. Tell the people you love, that you love them - at every opportunity.

Just A Prayer

Heavenly Father, Help us remember
That the jerk who cut us off in traffic
Last night is a single mother who
Worked nine hours that day and
Is rushing home to cook dinner,
Help with homework,
Do the laundry and spend a
Few precious moments
With her children.

Help us to remember that the
Pierced, tattooed, disinterested
Young man who can't make
Change correctly is a worried
19-year-old college student,
Balancing his apprehension
Over final exams with his
Fear of not getting his
Student loans for next semester.

Remind us, Lord,
That the scary looking bum,
Begging for money in the same
spot every day
(who really ought to get a job!)
is a slave to addictions
That we can only imagine in our
Worst nightmares.

Help us to remember that the
Old couple walking annoyingly
Slow through the store aisles
And blocking our shopping
Progress are savoring this
Moment, knowing that,
Based on the biopsy report
She got back last week, this
Will be the last year that they
Go shopping together.

Heavenly Father,
Remind us each day that,
Of all the gifts you give us,
The greatest gift is love.
It is not enough to share
That love with those
We hold dear.
Open our hearts not to
Just those who are
Close to us,
But to all humanity.
Let us be slow to judge
And quick to forgive,
Show patience,
Empathy and Love.

Lets all raise our glasses.

Every Past Mistake
Every Single Regret
The Heartbreak
The Tears
The Words of Anger
The Screaming Silences
The Time Wasted
The Lessons Learned...more than once
The Hurt
The Fake Laughter
The Empty Feelings
The Confusion brought on by mere Misunderstanding
The Deception
The Lost Trust
The Broken Soul
The Unstable Friendships
The Past...
Here's To Letting it All Go. Because the only way to go is forward...