The Girl Next Door...
I thought a lot about who I wanted to be and I came up with a list a mile long of qualities that I wished I had or things I wanted in my life. I was never particularly cool or anything like that and up until about a year ago, I really thought that mattered. When I moved to California, I figured that it would be a new start on life and that I could be however I wanted and be a totally different person. I wanted to be a cool party girl. You know the kind. They're the girls that walk through the door and everyone's attention is immediatly focused on them. Then, they spend the rest of the night amazing everyone with killer dance moves and flirty personality. Turns out, party girls are nothing but drunken cheerleaders. And parties aren't all that great, either. The only way to really enjoy yourself is to get really drunk. That's because the average IQ level at a party is just above rock and right underneath eggplant. Everyone there is either drunk or high and it turns out, I'm not like that. I could have faked it, but there isn't a point in not being yourself.
So who am I? Well, I don't have it all figured out yet, but what I've got so far is that I'm the girl next door. The one that prefers to sit and read a book instead of going out and getting drunk every night. The one who always comes off looking innocent and slightly boring. The one who has just started to learn that there is more to life than how much you make or what kind of car you drive. It's about the things you do when no one is looking. I find myself wanting to have faith in people, hoping that the thigns they do will be good and decent. Often I'm wrong. But every now and then, someone will surprise me. Sometimes it's a friend, sometimes just a stranger passing by, and sometimes even me.

Right Now...
Right now, I'm thinking about my e-mail. I get a lot of forwards and interesting facts. I got this one a few days ago that asked a bunch of children what they thought love meant. If you have seen the page I have with all of the quotes, you've probably figured out that I'm pretty far into the hopeless romantic category. Some of the responses the kids had were so insightful. I forgot that kids have a clearer way of seeing things. These are some of the things they have said:
When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth.
~Billy, age 4
Love is when you go out to eat and you give someone most of your french fries without making them give you any of theirs.
~Chrissy, age 6
Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.
~Terri, age 4
Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.
~Bobby, age 5
When you tell someone something bad about yourself and you're scared they wont love you anymore, but then you get surprised because not only do they still love you, but they love you even more.
~Matthew, age 7
There are two kinds of love. Our love and God's love, but God makes both of them.
~Jenny, age 8
Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt and then he wears it every day.
~Noelle, age 7
Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.
~Elaine, age 5
Love is when Mommy sees Daddy all smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford.
~Chris, age 8
Love is when your puppy licks your face even when you left him alone all day.
~Mary Ann, age 4
Love cards like Valentine's cards say things that we'd like to say, but wouldn't be caught dead saying.
~Mike, age 8
God could have said the magic words to make the nails fall off the cross, but He didn't. That's love.
~Max, age 5
When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend down to paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even after his hands got arthritis, too. That's love.
~Rebecca, age 8
I think those last two are my favorites. I really am hopeless, aren't I?

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