Thank You, Thank You!

I have had the most wonderful birthday thanks to all the wonderful people in my life who have proven to be true friends and, of course, family. I just wanted to express my gratitude, joy, and sincere thank you in having so many special people help me celebrate a momentous occasion in my life. The past few days would not have been nearly as fun-filled and exciting without you. Thank you for the "happy birthdays," the beautiful cakes, the free drinks, gifts, sweet cards, and also spending your time with me. As I looked around at my dinners and my gatherings this week and saw your faces, I was reminded how lucky in love and blessed in life I truly am. I can say without a doubt that this has been one of the best birthdays ever and certainly the most memorable. I have all of you to thank for it and know you will always be a part of this most special memory. 

With love,

Chloe

Friendship and Its Feud

The past few days have left me wondering how do you confront friends? It is relatively easy to stand up to one's enemies - to defend yourself from attack, to be on your guard, and to meet dislike with mutual dislike. However, how do you knowingly enter conflict with beloved people when it is absolutely necessary for the sake of your self and for the sake of your friendship?

We tend to draw lines in our lives; lines that if crossed, trigger a defensive response. When it comes to friends and family, the line is a little less clear and the response a little less aggressive. After all, we love these people and expect them to know the lines just as well as we ourselves do. We expect our friends to give of themselves just as we give of ourselves... a relationship of give and take, compromise, and, at times, sacrifice. How else are we to become a part of each other?

When one party refuses to give, the friendship suffers and evolves into something unhealthy. It is said that anger, yelling, and even arguing are signs of a healthy relationship where both parties care, but we are often hesitant to explore these emotions and outlets in our friendships. We ignore the problem and silently fume to ourselves, which plants the seed of bitter resentment. So, perhaps in the long run it is best to fight, to yell, to introduce your friendship to conflict in order to save it. Funny how life works.

An Ode to My Father

Please describe your relationship with someone that has pushed you to excel at

Some thing and how that motivation has carried into other aspects of your life.

At the ripe old age of four, I received my first bicycle – actually a tricycle, but who’s counting wheels? My very first sidewalk venture on this tricycle landed me on the pavement with skinned knees, a good cry, and a bruised ego. Already, I was eyeing my lovely pink gift with suspicion, chewing the idea over that perhaps the tricycle would be better to admire from afar rather than ride. I probably would have settled upon my notion and stuck to it with an immovable dedication had my father not picked me up and set my bottom back on the hot pink seat (after wiping away my tears of course). And then three years later, when I was giving my very best to upgrade to the treacherous bicycle that all of my friends had somehow already mastered, it was my father who hounded and poked and prodded until I could complete a successful circle around the driveway without falling over.

My father always had the bravery and love for adventure that I lacked even as a child, but because of him I have seen firsthand what it is to not give up. I have inherited a willful stubbornness when it comes to, well, anything. Being told it cannot be done by others or even by myself is my call to battle. I have especially taken this to heart when it comes to academics, an area of my life that my father has many times encouraged me to get back up, dust myself off, and ask for some more. I took the hardest classes with the hardest teachers simultaneously. I retook the ACT four times because I was unsatisfied with anything but my best; meaning I voluntarily returned over and over for a grueling, four hour test. I have pushed through all-nighters where I have watched the sun come up through the library windows just to know that I have beaten the material into submission.

Now, despite many setbacks and stumbles, I refuse to give up the hardest academic and career path offered. Unlike my impulse to concede defeat after falling off the pink tricycle, I daily have the urge to push myself further and pick myself up when I know I have a long, hard road ahead. Perhaps, I would like to think that I have done all this alone, but that is not the case. I am who am and have come thus far because someone once taught me what not to give up means, and he has never given up on me since.  

Words That Take Your Breath Away

If there be grief, then let it be rain,

And this but silver grief for grieving's sake,

If these green woods be dreaming here to wake

Within my hear, if I should rouse again.

But I shall sleep, for where is any death

While in these blue hills slumbrous overhead

I'm rooted like a tree? Though I be dead,

This earth that holds me fast will find me breath.

William Faulkner