handwritten on November 18, 2019
Something I've always been (and it's a difficult trait to get rid of) is a people pleaser. And I had to laugh because in my father's old high school year book a classmate wrote, "You are a beautiful person, Andy. Your only fault is that you are too nice." In fact, if I remember correctly, my dad's friends actually made him an "I'm sorry" cake once because he said sorry that many times. I suppose naturally beautiful people (my dad) sometimes find it difficult to upset others (and I suppose this makes sense.)
What I have realized moreso this year than many on this adventure of whimsy is just how exhausting pleasing everyone around us actually is. Mostly because...you come to realize that some...
handwritten on November 17, 2019
I used to internally make fun of my parents (maybe just a bit) when I realized how much video footage they took of both me and my brother growing up. But sitting down tonight in the family room with the whole family watching those videos made me think just how full of wisdom my parents were to take THAT many videos. Because photos are fabulous but those tiny moments that you truly don't remember with fleeting time-sometimes bring up so many important memories and quotes and lessons that you may never again have been able to uncover or remember without those small snapshots.
Within those videos it was obvious that time changes everything. Time changes how individuals act. It changes how...
handwritten on November 16, 2019
I listened to a pretty moving sermon today at the church I attend. And I believe it came at a pretty interesting time in my life where I'm trying to push myself towards a change I don't know about yet. Nevertheless, I can sense that a change is coming soon (particularly with my pathway in life right now and my career.)
Well today the sermon was about fulfilling your destiny and that all of us are experiencing some type of hardship or internal struggle and though we wish we could plan out our future, we just need to take one step forward day after day and realize it is never too late to find a new path. In addition, we cannot live in the past because otherwise we become so caught up in our...
handwritten on November 15, 2019
Throughout the year I know I've talked a few times about time, how fleeting it is and how if we let it, it controls our thinking and our whereabouts and where we are and where we want to go. And I think if anything I have done this year, it is come to the realization that you can never make the excuse that you don't have enough time to "have fun." That time isn't wasted time-it's precious time. Do you really need to shove in one more math question or do you have time for a little 1 minute brain break to tell a pretty funny story. Stories are the essance of humanity. In fact, if I really take a look at the teachers and mentors who had the most profound impact on my life-they were the...
handwritten on November 13, 2019
Rose-colored glasses have always indicated to me that the person wearing them is full of fantastical dreams that most likely will never come true. But then as I saw today, without the rose colored glasses we lose a lot of ideas, dreams, thoughts, ambitions and pieces of joy. After our first student council meeting, my perceptions about student leadership changed dramatically. Kids are inherently innocent but also so eager to place paint on a blank canvas whereas as adults, we mull over the correct color choice and the spacing and the design and whether others will like it.
It was evident today when we broke into two beautiful groups of spirit and service that our world most likely would be...
