"We have the same shoes."

One day, I was sitting in my sixth grade reading class, reading Tuck Everlasting, when all of a sudden, I got tapped on the shoulder and heard, "Psst". I turn my head around and see a blonde girl sitting one row over, trying to get my attention. She smiles and says, "We have the same shoes."

Brad Paisley concert!

I looked down at her shoes, then at my own and smiled back at her before saying, "Yeah, we do." I didn't think that the conversation would go much further than that but I was pleasantly surprised when we started walking to our next classes together. Lo and behold, we had had gym class together all semester and had never spoken.

That all changed very quickly. That weekend she spent the night at my house and we were inseparable all through middle and high school, even though we went to different high schools. We were on the same football team for years and she spent so much time at my house that I called her my sister when my friends asked about her.

You know you're best friends when you can be silly together!

She was my person, my shoulder to cry on. I spent many hours spilling my guts to her and telling her my deepest, darkest secrets and vice versa. But for every hour spent crying, two hours were spent laughing. I have some of the most amazing memories with her that I wouldn't trade for anything in the world.

We go to different universities now and now I'm married, so we don't talk as much as we should. But even though our lives are going in separate directions, I'll always hold her in my heart and cherish the memories that I have with her. She taught me a lot about myself and about life. She helped me come out of my shell and helped me learn to love myself for who I am. I miss and love her very much and I hope that our paths cross each other again.

Football tournament!

Blog Challenge, Day 8: Advice

For this challenge, I have to give the best piece of advice that I can. When I sat down and started to think about what advice that I would tell people, a scene from Tuck Everlasting popped into my head. Winnie and Angus are out in a boat after Winnie has discovered the magical spring and she has to decide whether or not she is going to drink from the spring and live forever or not. Winnie is confused about what to do because she is afraid to die. Tuck tells her, "Don't be afraid of death, Winnie. Be afraid of the unlived life."

To me, that is the best advice that someone can give you. What the Tucks had was not life. As Angus said, they were stuck where they were and nothing about them was ever going to change, hence they could not grow and live. It got me thinking about my own life and yes, there are all things in the world that we have to do that we don't want to. That's just how life is but there have been so many times that I've done things that I didn't want to or made myself miserable, wasting my precious time on this Earth.

Basically, I've come to the realization that my happiness is important. At the end of the day, I'm the one that has to get up in the morning and like who I am and how I live my life. Nobody else does. You have one human life and you shouldn't waste it. You should follow your dreams, take risks and ultimately, live. Make sure that you always set some time away for yourself and that you enjoy your life as much as possible. I'm not saying that you will never have to do anything that you don't want to; that would be unrealistic. However, I am saying that when you have the chance to make yourself happy, take it.You are responsible for your own happiness. So grab the bull by the horns and carpe diem!

So take a piece of advice from Angus. Don't be afraid and go out and live your life to your fullest potential. As they say at the end of the movie, the narrator of the movie says, "You don't have to live forever, you just have to live." Now, log off of your computer and go live! :)