IF YOU GIVE, YOU BEGIN TO LIVE

Well...my classroom walls are starting to look brighter, my supplies for the year have arrived, and we are just a few days away from a new school year. Tuesday will be here quickly.

Having a summer to relax and reflect was just what I needed. Most recently I realized that I have been distant with people here...I had no idea until just a few days ago. I wouldn't allow myself to let people into my heart last year, because so much was on the rocks for so long. I thought my position would be cut, was told it would be cut, and it wasn't. I almost walked away...I think I made the right choice by staying. Every day I fall more and more in love with this place. Today I wonder if I will ever leave. Sometimes, though, I still ask myself where life would have taken me if I had left. By staying, have I permanently given up a few of my dreams? Do I really want to know?

I'm not your distant type of person; but I've kept some of the people who care about me here at a distance these past six months. People that I shouldn't keep myself from. But maybe guarding your heart has more to do than the opposite sex and love and relationships. If I would have let people in, and then left just a couple of months later, I don't know how I would have handled it. It may have crushed me. If only I could be a shallow person! Life would be easier...but then I wouldn't have so many amazing people walking beside me in life...no matter how near or far away they are.