I forget what life’s all about….
The Perfect Heart
I stole this from my friend Carly’s Facebook page. I don’t think I need to say much more than this…
The Perfect Heart
One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said “Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.” The crowd and the young man looked at the old man’s heart. It was beating strongly, but full of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didn’t fit quite right and there were several jagged edges. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing.
The people stared – how can he say his heart is more beautiful, they thought? The young man looked at the old man’s heart and saw its state and laughed. “You must be joking,” he said. “Compare your heart with mine, mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears.”
“Yes,” said the old man, “Yours is perfect looking but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love – I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren’t exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared. Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the other person hasn’t returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges — giving love is taking a chance.
Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too, and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have waiting. So now do you see what true beauty is?”
The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands. The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man’s heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges. The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man’s heart flowed into his. They embraced and walked away side by side.
How sad it must be to go through life with a whole untouched heart.
-Authour unknown
Outta here.
I know, I know. Haven’t written anything for a while… it’s okay. I’m sure I’ll have lots to write about when I get back. I’m outta here for the weekend, kids. See ya when I get back. 
xoxo
Near or far… I still love you.
This weekend was amazing. I have the most wonderful friends on the face of the planet. Whom I adore with all my heart. And who, although they cannot prove it in a Facebook quiz, know me better than most people. And who still love me, even after a four hour, sugar induced, stand up routine that no one would believe even if I told you (just know that once again, my boobs were a topic of conversation… apparently? They’re hard to ignore). I have pictures, I have memories, and I have extremely sore ribs to prove that I really am as funny as I think I am (and a sarcasm sign for future reference).
You would think, that after this weekend, all I would need is a little relaxing time, and that I would be on top of the world. Nothing makes me happier than spending time with my friends. Nothing. They are my family. They are my support system. They’re there to remind me when I’m being a COMPLETE asshole, and they’re there to laugh at all my jokes. They’re there when I need them, and like I said, they know me better than other people in my life (right, that means my family). So you would think that there was absolutely nothing that could bring me down this weekend… right? You’d be wrong.
Don’t get me wrong. I had THE best weekend I’ve had here in a while. But there was totally something missing… and it took me until today to figure out what that was: my Colorado peeps. Because as much as I LOVE my friends here in Washington… Colorado is my home. I have friends there that I miss just as much as I miss my Washington friends when they’re not around.
There are some days that I’m completely okay with being 1300 miles away from my home. There are days when I don’t think about the distance, because it’s super easy to pick up the phone and call Jason, and know that no matter how far apart we are, we are closer now than we ever were. I can log into MSN at any point during the day and find at least two of my Colorado friends online. I can hunt down people using Facebook, MySpace, email. If I want to talk to them… they’re usually around. Those are the days that I’m 100% okay with being away from Colorado.
Then there are days like today. Days when the distance is all I can think about. Days when I feel like picking up the phone to call Lisa, or Jason, or Mike, or Casey, or Kaidi, but I don’t. Because I know the instant I get on the phone with one of them, I’ll remember how far away they are. I’ll remember that I made a choice seven years ago that brought me here. I’ll remember that it’s just not as easy as asking them to hang out at my BBQ… because by the time they got here, it would be over.
I could point fingers. I could say that it’s someone else’s fault that I’m feeling so stuck in Washington. But the truth is… I wouldn’t be if I had never made the decision to move here in the first place. A decision that has brought me friendships that are exactly like those I left behind. Friendships that I would give anything for. People who I love so completely, that I have a hard time NOT being myself around them… even when there are new people added to the mix.
And so after a weekend like this one? All I can think about is how completely amazing my friends are… those near, and far. And how I wish that I had more weekends with Jason, and Lisa, and Mike, and Kaidi, and Casey, and Jimmy. And how grateful I am for my weekends with Courtney, and Jacquee, and Toby, and Derek. And how I miss Audrea more than anything in the world because she is in neither place. And how I wish Melissa still lived in Bellingham, because she loves a good social experiment. And how I miss Megan and Jason and wished they didn’t live in another state. And then I think “wouldn’t it be so completely AWESOME to get all the people I love together so we can just hang out?” And I remember the distance. And I get a little homesick. And then I pick up the phone, my instant messenger, my email…. and I remind those people who are far away how much I adore them, and how truly lucky I am to have them in my life…. and I feel the gap close a little bit.
And she’s outta here
Right now… I’m sitting around waiting for Courtney and Jacquee (who has a blog, but I can’t remember the addy right this minute) to call me and say they’re on their way to my house. Because we?
Are at it again.
Girl’s night…. here I come.
Maybe this time you’ll get some pictures. Heh.