things I learned in 2006...

A year ago I wrote a list of things I learned during 2005. Some were funny, some were a little sad and some just introspective. Everyone always talks about how time is relative... people are always using the line about it feels like it was just yesterday, but then it feels like it was a lifetime ago. We can't get away from it. So when I rack my brain... and my heart... about what I learned this past year, some of them are the same that I said I learned a year ago... and some of them are new lessons... but maybe if I keep writing them, I'll eventually apply them.

Utilizing the public library for free books and movies is essential when living at home in the cornfields.

If God opens the door... or the window... walk through it in faith.

If a guy calls your dad a geezer, it's probably not going to work out.

Friendship is worthwhile despite the obstacles... whether it be distance or timing or expectations.

I may not be as hard to read as I try to be sometimes.

I could have used one of Evanescence's new songs over the past six years.

Kirby Puckett is missed even if he spelled his name wrong.

People can agree to disagree... leaving the past in the past and building on today.

I can accept death... even young death... even if I'll never understand the reasons or have answers to the hundreds of questions.

Eating dinner with an ex-boyfriend's family and his girlfriend could prove to be awkward.

They speak English in Canada... okay I knew that one already but I thought I'd be a stereotypical ignorant American.

Despite the negative press, there are some awesome kids in this country... I say kids but I mean all of the 11-18 year olds I hung out with this summer. Adults always talk about how you can get more out of a leadership position than the ones you're leading that it can become cliche... but I needed this summer a lot... and I learned so much from every person I met at Ridgecrest and Glorieta.

I can't do everything or be everything to everyone.

I still say stupid things that come off the wrong way when I'm trying to be funny, but it's not.

Look beneath the surface of a guy who seems like he's perfect. He's not.

While a lot of the complaints about MethCo are the same as they were when I first went there six years ago... working there isn't the same.

You can't keep in touch with everyone.

Waiting can be okay... some things are better after a good wait.

I need my family.

and once again... I still have a lot to learn...

* completely off topic... but I read about an essay Sharon Cohn wrote about women and children who are trafficked each year. She wrote about a girl named Simla... and she says "Simla's story is not unique, except that, of course it is. It is unique to Simla. She has plans and dreams just like you and I... Not only is each victim the one, but we likewise can be the one. The one called, the one listening, the one willing, the one sent to bring freedom and justice to innocent ones who are suffering. Being overwhelmed by the numbers is an indulgence the oppressed can ill afford." to read more "the one" - http://www.ijm.org/NETCOMMUNITY/Page.aspx?&pid=270&srcid