Every soul on this planet has a package. You come to love someone for who they are when you know them, by loving them, you accept and/or love the people that are a part of their package.

Take myself for example: my parents raised me, they are a part of the package. My parents taught me to know between right and wrong, to respect others for who they are, and to treasure life. Whis is a part of who I am. When I started school, my teachers taught me to read and write, some teachers may have challenged me, thus making another part of who I am, one who loves challenges (mental stimulation challenges), the friends I had in school, they are also a part of my package. Friends would make up for a very LONG paragraph, and they will have their own paragraph in this post.

My package is twenty-seven years old, and in no way do I feel weighed down, in fact, it's the opposite. Each and every friend has opened my eyes to different things that my parents would never have been able to show me. My childhood friends, who continued on throughout college have shown me a side of themselves, of which I have taken a piece or two and made it a part of me. My first childhood friend, Janis, who I've known since I was five (*ahhh!* just realized it was 22 years ago that I met Janis and I have known her for all of those years!), was a tomboy, and loved sports, I think in part, because of her older brother, but from her, I learned to love sports and would always tag along with her at recess at school and play with the boys. I grew up to be athletic, thanks to Janis. And she also brought me laughter, I'm now able to laugh at many things, for I have a weird (but hilarious) sense of humor. Azad and Shawn, another two childhood friends of mine, who I grew up playing with at recess and in gym, I've known them the same amount of years I've known Janis. This was my "childhood" gang.

Middle school came around, and I returned from mainstream school (where I had stayed for two years), the "childhood" gang was still there, but it had expanded to include Aimee, Amanda and Derek. Those three became a part of me too. Aimee in many ways, going through ups and downs of puberty (we were nearing thirteen), outside influences, her parents separated when we were in middle school and divorced not long after. Aimee and I shared similar interests, and Amanda was someone who had grown too fast, ahead of her time, especially when we hit high school. Derek brought his love for books, and together, we were the bookworms of our class.

High school rolled around, we had some additions, Sheri and Jason. Sheri and Jason brought a "youthful" perspective to our class, they were at least a year or two younger than the rest of the class, but don't get me wrong, Sheri wasn't "too young", she was an old soul, and she fit in with us perfectly. Sheri and Jason both became a part of me too. During my freshman year in high school, we had two exchange students, Stephen (from Australia) and Walter (from Argentina). My family welcomed Walter into our house and our lives for four months. Walter became like a brother to me. His easy-going personality was incorporated into my package as well. When his year was up, he had to return home to Argentina, even though he may be gone, but he will never be forgotten, once a brother, always a brother. A few years later, during our junior year, we added yet one more to our class, Sally. Sally was older, and her personality was, how do I say it? "quite out there". Nevertheless, she became a part of me.

It is impossible to list each and every person that has had an impact in my life during those childhood years, but I named the ones that were in my class and who I spent most of my time with. And it's also impossible to say that each of the people that had an impact on me have equal pieces of the package. The pieces of the package vary with each impact, each influence and the amount of time spent with each person. Some people you may only know for a few months, may have a big impact, or a smaller impact, depending on the strength of the influence.

Once I graduated from high school, college was just right around the corner, here I met so many people from different walks of life, and they all became a part of me as well. Janny, even though I knew her in high school, we were never really close in high school, it wasn't until college when we really became like sisters (not just sorority sisters, but blood sisters). Janny, there's so many things to say about her, but mainly, I learned that someone can be really opinionated, and blunt, which fits Janny to a tee, but I came to love that part of her, and accept it, therefore, she is a part of my package. Another person I met in college - Megan - she, no question, became a part of my package during our six-day whirlwind trip from California to New York in 2000, even though I already knew her two years before when she became a sister of my sorority, we weren't close until that trip. What did Megan teach me? That's a good question - I had been exposed to same-sex relationships by a girl in high school who was an "out of the closet" lesbian with a gay father, I had never had a problem with same-sex relationships, but I learned so much more from Megan, from her experiences, and I became an advocate for same-sex relationships, because you can't stereotype same-sex relationships, due to the fact that the people in those relationships are still individuals, and they are still who they are (just like in heterosexual relationships). Take Megan, for example, when I look at her, I see her as my best friend, Megan, the individual. Another person I want to mention here, from college, is Juz. My little sister in the sorority, she had a good few years on me (yes, she was my little sister, but she's older!), even though she had a few years on me, Juz taught me to take a step back and look at life before jumping into anything headfirst. She was my pixie (she's around 5' 3").

The roommates I have had in college, (too many to really go into detail for each, but will name them all)... Hayley, Becca, Rago, Carley, Tanya, Kristin, Stefi, Loren, Leah, Julie, Cathy, Annmarie, Tasha, Sheri, Sander, Irene, Stacey, Lisa, Jef and Kevin. Yes, that Sheri is the same Sheri that I knew in high school. Some of my roommates were Canadians - Tanya, Carley, Sheri, Stacey and Lisa. I knew all, except for Stacey, in high school. Each one of those people brought with them a piece of themselves which I took to become me. Tanya was very easy to live with, and we were roommates for three years. When we were living at the house near the airport (our last year as roommates, as she graduated that spring), I remember our late night talks, we would stay up til 1 or 2 in the morning, just talking. She was always so easy to talk with, and she has one of the most easy going personalities of anyone I know. From Rago, I learned the value of generosity, I was living with her off campus at an apartment, WITHOUT a car, and she was always kind enough to give me a ride to school. For that I will always love her, and I adopted her generosity and made it my own.

Post college, as most of you already know, I moved to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I met a lot of people at work, and outside of work. Those people have still had an impact on me, and will continue to do so as long as I live here. I must mention Amy, Katie, Willie and Jenna. Amy, a single mother to a 9 year old, but the girl was 5 when I first met them. Amy is a spiritual person, and I adopted that part of her and made it a part of my package. Katie, a wonderful roommate, and very supportive whenever necessary, and a great sounding board! She was raised conservative, and brings a different perspective to any situation that I'm in, to make me look at things from both sides. Willie and Jenna - soon to be married in a few months! - they are like brother and sister to me. Willie would remain calm in the face of a crisis. For example, when the tire on my car came off just south of Faribault, I had Willie on the trip with me, and he was a calming force and I was able to maintain control of my worries and panic. Jenna has the same influence, in part because she has that impact from Willie as well, and they are a part of me too.

To adopt a piece of someone and to incorporate it into yourself is to show how much respect you have for them.

So like I said at the beginning, every soul on this planet has a package. You come to love someone for who they are when you know them, by loving them, you accept and/or love the people that are a part of their package. I look at couples out there, and remain hopeful, that someday I will find a husband. I found this quote somewhere, uttered anonymously:

"My knight in shining armor is out there, but he's lost and refuses to ask for directions."

That's what I think happened to my future husband, he's lost and he refuses to ask for directions (which is typical of men, they have so much pride they refuse to stop and ask for directions) *smiles* But for a man to love me, he must acknowledge and accept the package that I carry around with me, as I would acknowledge and accept his.

Just had to get that off my mind, been running through my head for the last few weeks until today when I could finally put words to it. I've been typing this off the top of my head, and if I missed anyone that was an important part of my life, I apologize.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

With 2006 comes a fresh new year, a fresh new year of possibilities, opportunities and new experiences. With every new year that comes, I always look forward to the exciting possibilities that it will bring, either to enrichen my life, or to alter it.

I hope you all rang in the New Year loudly, having FUN and safely! I sure did! Went to a friend's house, which consisted of MOSTLY couples, actually they were ALL couples except for me and a co-worker who also went. And we had kids and 1 dog milling around in the basement and all of the adults near the delicious food were upstairs!

2002 was the year of "moving on", 2003 AND 2004 were the years of "overcoming challenges", 2005 was the year of "learning and growing".

I hope the year 2006 will be a fun year, and I will not be able to give it a "label" until after the year has already gone, but I don't want the year to fly by too fast! *knocking on wood* I already have so many things to do in the new year, chairperson of the MAAD Softball tournament to take place here in Sioux Falls in July, attending the MAAD Basketball tournament in Kansas City in March, going back home in May (possibly for a trip out to Nova Scotia or to stay with my parents and help them with their new computer), and possibly going up to watch a Twins game or two in April (against the Blue Jays' rivals - the Yankees... with their new Murderer's Row of Damon, Jeter, A-Rod, Giambi, Sheffield, Matsui, Posada, Williams and Cano, must be interesting, so I thought, why not?) So it might be set for April, so I'm already filling up my appointment book for the new year with meetings, trips out of town and mini-events.

It's also a time of reflection on the year past, and a time of looking to the horizon, to the future. The sun may set on the horizon every night, but it always comes back in the morning, bringing with it a brand new day.

Right before christmas, I had this picture taken with my Sioux Falls circle. It was the first time EVER that all 4 of us had a picture taken together. I thought I'd post it here, keep my promise for a picture or a quote on each blog post. And since I don't have a quote today, I'll just have this picture, and sign off by saying Happy New Year and have a great month of January!