i cannot take this brr cold. and i know it could be worse, but i just cannot stay warm no matter how many layers or under how many blankets i am under.

i

7 years !

“At some point, you have to make a decision. Boundaries don’t keep other people out. They fence you in. Life is messy. That’s how we’re made. So, you can waste your lives drawing lines. Or you can live your life crossing them. But there are some lines… that are way too dangerous to cross.”

I love the potential in kids. They are so innocent and beautiful and untouched, and such smart creatures.

I love the pictures they draw me, the hugs they give me, the fact that they remember my name.

I love that they have grown accustomed to me and have known me to be familiar; I enjoy being someone consistent in their lives, someone they recognize and look up to. I like being a part of a kind of family outside of family.

When some of the more troublesome kids see me, there's this glimmer, this change in stature, and smile that escapes from their lips. There's this one specific little boy whom I was really hard on him the first time I had to deal with his attitude and disinterest in doing homework, so thereafter he warmed up to me..we have funny interactions.

Sometimes there's so much energy in the air that it is overwhelming, and I start feeling like I am suffocating. The screaming and the chaos that surrounds me drowns me out, almost like I am drowning in it, and we become this one giant mass. But the energy, you see, can be used for so many things that it is endless. Endless potential.

I love how lovely and simple they are. Their innocence is so sweet and makes me smile from a place so deeply inside, because it permeates not just what they feel and say, but how they think and see the world. On one particular pizza day, it was a little boy's first. After signing his and his sister's name off the list, he stared at his pizza and showed us how we could slice the pizza to have a share for both himself and his sister. Smiling, we assured him that she had her own serving, too. Sweet innocence..spilling over.

sometimes i feel like we're all just bodies going in and out of eachother's lives, leaving imprints and taking pieces for ourselves until we're all scattered, like puzzle pieces that don't match up anymore.

"The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.

Remember, to say, "I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

And always remember: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

Everyone just wants to be a part of something bigger than themselves.