Credo

I have read the "Everything You Need to Know" essay many times over the last several years and I have never taken the time to sit down and write my own Credo. Finally, I am going to give it a shot. I will keep it as honest as I can so that in a few years, I can look back and reflect on who I was at the time and see if my thoughts and beliefs evolve as much as I do. Here goes..

1. I believe that we don't even come close to reaching the potential that is within our grasp.

2. I believe that I can learn anything I choose to learn, as long as I set my mind to it and work at it when it does not come easy.

3. I believe bullying is not only a school years problem. Some people never outgrow it and they bring it with them to the work place.

4. I believe that children sometimes know better than adults. As they age, they forget what they knew as a kid and slip into bad habits.

5. I believe youth is a treasure we don't appreciate until it is long gone. How I would love to have fun like a kid again.

6. I believe laughter is a cure for many things (sadness, loneliness, even some physiological diseases).

7. I believe running is a good way to empty my heart of worries while I take care of my body.

8. I believe there is a lot more beauty surrounding me than I acknowledge. It's a little like the "Take the time to smell the roses idea". We need to really look at what is in front of our eyes in order to see the beauty there.

9. I believe there is nothing more comforting than a disgustingly thick peanut butter and jam sandwich for supper.

10. I believe a little piece of heaven seeps into my dreams when I nap in the sunbeam that floods my living room on a Sunday afternoon.

My Rambling Autobiography

I was born just early enough to be called a child of the sixties, two months before Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the surface of the moon. I used to get nervous on the first day of school. I have a weakness for my dad’s soggy tomato sandwiches. There’s something nostalgic about the way the juice soaks into the bread. I used to read under my covers with a flashlight at night until my mom (also an avid reader) told me I had no bedtime if I was reading. A first-grader once told me he would not tell the « Santa secret » because he understood that the others needed to believe. I once wanted to run away from home so I hid under the front porch to see how long it would take my family to miss me. My grumbling stomach never allowed me to find out. When I was 9, I saw my first dead body as they pulled a bloated seven year old from the public swimming pool in the park down the street. When I grow up, I want to be a writer, but I still get nervous on the first day of school.