Why I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day

I want to start out by saying thank you 

In that moment

My mom came over last weekend and we had our normal every day life talks. I started telling her about all of the things I’m passionate about. Mostly things like being an activist, speaking out for those that don’t have a voice, standing up for what I believe in and of course getting involved in certain peaceful protest. Key word there is peaceful. Anyways, somehow we got on the subject of the protest during the Vietnam war and she looked at me, laughed and said, “You know, you’re becoming the kind of person your father use to dislike.”

“There’s no way to be a perfect mother and a million ways to be a good one.”

I recently had another one of those mommy moments when all I can think is, “I can’t believe this is my child.” Not in a bad way either. I’m not sure what I did to deserve such a wonderful child but I must have done something right. Just about every parent feels that way about their kids. Sometimes I think he’s helped me grow way more than I’ve helped him. Is that even possible?

“Move on because life isn’t waiting.”

I joined this site 3 months ago. I honestly wasn’t sure if I’d really like it or how long I’d last. I’ve gotten over 550 views, a great amount of followers (way more than expected) and the support from this place has been overwhelming. It might not sound like much but to me it’s something wonderful.  Thank you all for reading and sharing a piece of you every day. I really enjoy learning from you guys and seeing how unique the people in this world really are.

“I feel that there is nothing more truly artistic than to love people.”

I originally picked this for the song of the week because of the video. I’m a big fan of art in all of it’s different forms including music, painting, photography, self-expression, dance, you name it. I’m sure there are tons of people who would turn this video into something sexual but that’s not what this is about. I admire Brendon Urie’s ability to express himself in his most natural state. In our world we tend to see our bodies as something sexual or something shameful. We forget how beautiful we are and that our bodies are a wonderful work of art in all of it’s different shapes and sizes.

“I’ve been told I am the problem And the problem’s my honesty”

I’ve been listening to this song a lot the past few days. I believe you can fall in love with many different people and places and in many different ways. This song is pure in expressing self doubt, and the want to be accepted. At the same time admitting  faults and still valuing those around us no matter what their opinion of us is. I think there is a message in this song that needs to be heard especially with some of the events going on today. We all interpret music in different ways. I hope in some way this encourages you today.

“This is not your place, no this is not your playground. It’s my heart.”

I am a big fan of documentaries. I have to limit myself on the ones about crime and murder. I research everything I see that is based on a true story. So to give you an example of how lost I get in the story, last year I studied Columbine. I was young when it happened so I didn’t really understand much about it. I studied what happened for a good two weeks. I read the two kids journals, I watched all of the videos that were still around to watch, saw all of the pictures and read the testimonies of the survivors. I tried to put myself in the place of those two boys to try to understand why they did what they did. Believe me, it had nothing to do with video games. I ended up in a deep depressive state for about a month because of how lost I got in this story.

Where is the love?

I am heartbroken over seeing this country tear itself apart. We don’t need terrorist to do that for us when we are doing such a great job at it ourselves. Somehow, we’ve got this all backwards. We lost the meaning of life, of loving each other and of helping each other. We are so consumed in our own bitterness to care about anyone else and it’s so, so sad.

“Good friends are like stars. You don’t always see them but you know they are there.”

I have been constantly reminded of the importance of friendship. Sometimes we take the most special things for granted. So I wanted to take some time to express my appreciation for 2 amazing friends in my life.