strangers & best friends.

*san diego, CA, sometime before summer 2005

when i was six my teacher asked me what i wanted to be when i grew up

i told her i wanted to be a mermaid.

fast forward seventeen years and i would still love to be a mermaid... but i'm on my way to becoming many other things i'd love to be too... ontheverge.

i never pictured myself being here right now in this chair at this moment thinking this let alone writing these thoughts on a website for hundreds of almost strangers to read.
but here i am, here you are, and here we go...

life's greatest expectation is that you will make the most of your life
that things will always change
that you can expect nothing to turn out the way you planned
you never know what may happen
things arent always what they seem...
the same goes for people.
i've met some of the most incredible people in the world and there are so many more incredible people i will be meeting in the future but here is what i've learned from the wonderful random strangers so far...

never give up.
faith is easy to come by hard to hold onto.
human contact is amazing.
a smile can change everything.
my best friends are effing amazing.
laugh until you hurt.
dance dance dance.thunderstorms can be beautiful.
love.
it's okay to feel dangerous.
sexy should be natural.
beauty comes from within.
beware of posers.
dont front.
it's the little things.
take pictures.
read books.
write poetry.
be original.dont sweat the dirty laundry.
love some more.
respect.
follow the golden rule.
things are never as bad as they seem.

recently i've met some very interesting very different very inspiring people.

you can never have too many friends.
lately i've been intrigued to see which of these friends are planning on sticking around... which ones have simply walked away... which ones never left... and which ones are only around for... well... for whatever reason they'll never fulfill...

so many of you, you know who you are, who i loved have left
so many of you who i never thought i'd say hello to again are still around (you know who you are)
so many of you will never hear me say good bye... you should know who you are.

we've shared the better and worst parts of 3 months, 2 years, 3 years, 6 years, 8 years, 10 years, 1 month, and i just wanted to say thank you for everything you did or didnt do.

i have great expectations for my life... and beautiful expectations for my friends.

after all... life is beautiful and you should always expect the unexpected.

*phuket, thailand, september 2008