Like you, my friend, I like you

Some people are just plain inspirational

I used to be inspired by Oprah. I loved her "favorite things" episodes, when she would give all her favorite things of the year to the audience. I thought that school she built in Africa for those girls was the coolest thing anyone had ever done ever, and I dreamed of doing things like that if I ever fell into wealth. Then, I got annoyed by too many "Aha! moments"and "What I know for sures", and my admiration for her simmered down.

These days, I'm more inspired by the real people in my life. People that inspire that Mr. Roger's song from forever ago, 'You Are Special', to play in my head. Here's a few lines:

You are my friend
You are special
You are my friend
You're special to me.
You are the only one like you.
Like you, my friend, I like you.

My friend Olivia, for example. We met last year, when I came to a new high school. Our school is very difficult, and yet she still finds time to be an amazing horseback rider (I'm sure there's a cooler word than 'horseback rider', but horses scare me, so I wouldn't know) and an amazing friend to everyone who's lucky enough to know her as one. So..yeah..I'm afraid of horses. I won't deny it. Maybe it's an irrational fear, but after I watched someone fall off their horse, I viewed these hoofed mammals differently. Olivia has survived falling off her horse several times, and actually chases horses around for fun. Excuse me. Come again? Why don't you just jump in a pool with a killer whale and play water polo. This is amazing to me..amazingly cool!! I wish I had the guts to do that. I wish I had the skill of being a good listener, and a patient learner. I'm working at these things everyday...but for now, I have the privilege of knowing Olivia, who does all of these things without trying. I'm blessed to know you, livvy love..thanks for everything :)

Another thing, every day, people my age die for no reason at all. They go to get coffee, and walk into the sidewalk without waiting for the light to turn green...they hit their head in the shower, they get hit in their car by a drunk driver on their way to a party, they get mugged and shot and raped and blahblahblah I don't want to think about it! What I do want to think about, and be better at doing, is telling the people I love how much I care about them. If someone you know is a joy to love, tell them! You don't know how many days you've got left, and even though it takes time to count blessings, it's totally worth it!

(p.s.....sorry about the bosco stick picture, guys. It's not showing up on my 'crappy day' post, maybe in defiance of all my bad comments aimed at Bosco sticks :)