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Author Topic: Txhuas lub npau suav yog koj~  (Read 66960 times)

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Offline jon_jon

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Re: Txhuas lub npau suav yog koj~
« Reply #30 on: April 21, 2012, 04:46:02 AM »
April 21, 2012

Why am I falling in love with this girl thousands of miles away? Have I not found someone here closer to me? Why is it that the ones that are closer to me take me for granted? Am I just a shadow on the wall that they can care less about?

What is it that I feel, when I speak with you that makes you different? Of course we speak Hmong, the girls here would not be able to speak any Hmong. Is it because the way you make me feel as if you really need me to rescue you? Am I trying to be a hero when what you need is more than what I have to offer. Although we're thousands of miles away you send your prayers to me as if I was the one who was asking for them.

Is this the feeling of being heroic and finding my damsel in distress? Why do the girls here take so many things for granted but yet you don't want any of it and are content with what you have? You have so much more respect from me because you have found your happiness on the other side of the world without the ideologies of the west. And here I am trying to offer you the best of the western civilization. You have so much peace within you. Will I be able to offer you a better world in which you can love, live, and enjoy that happiness?



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Re: Txhuas lub npau suav yog koj~
« Reply #31 on: April 23, 2012, 10:12:01 AM »
Awwww....

My reaction exactly. :)

JJ, a woman is happiest where her heart is. If you are able to locate that, you need not question at all....she'll settle herself into your world. Things should be simple like that.



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Offline jon_jon

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Re: Txhuas lub npau suav yog koj~
« Reply #32 on: June 08, 2012, 12:53:56 AM »
I thought my life was hard, I remember living in my car for a few days because I didn't fill out for a dorm my last two years of college... Long story short, I found an apartment through public housing. I was considered homeless and they were willing to put me in an apartment after filling out an application for Section 8. I was afraid of not getting a place to stay because the landlord was evil and threatened to call the cops on me if he found me staying near the housing complexes again. That's where I slept because the parking lot was not well lit and I could get away parking my car over night there...

I prayed, and prayed.... and guess what happened a few days later. They fired the slum lord and right after that the new landlord or housing manager saw my application/sent it through and told me I could stay as long as I finish college. And now here I am. Done with college!

But it doesn't compare to what this girl had to go through...

From scrubbing floors to Ivy League: Homeless student to go to dream college

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/07/us/from-janitor-to-harvard/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

Lawndale, North Carolina (CNN) -- It's before sunrise, and the janitor at Burns High School has already been down the length of a hallway, cleaning and sweeping classrooms before the day begins.

This particular janitor is painstakingly methodical, even as she administers a mental quiz on an upcoming test. Her name is Dawn Loggins, a straight-A senior at the very school she cleans.

On this day, she maneuvers a long-handled push broom between rows of desks. She stops to pick up a hardened, chewed piece of gum. "This annoys me, because there's a trash can right here," she says.

The worst, she says, is snuff cans in urinals. "It's just rude and pointless."

With her long, straight dark blonde hair and black-rimmed glasses, Dawn looks a bit like Avril Lavigne. But her life is a far cry from that of a privileged pop star.

She was homeless at the start of the school year, abandoned by her drug-abusing parents. The teachers and others in town pitched in -- donating clothes and providing medical and dental care. She got the janitorial job through a school workforce assistance program.

She's grateful for the work. But it's where she's going next, beyond the walls of Burns, that excites her most. She applied to four colleges within North Carolina and one dream university. She'll graduate soon before heading off, leaving her dust pan behind.
Dawn Loggins has worked as a janitor her senior year to make ends meet.
Dawn Loggins has worked as a janitor her senior year to make ends meet.

For now, there's still work to be done. She stops for a quick bite to eat in the custodial closet amid Pine-Sol and Clorox. She then darts to classes -- three advanced placement courses and an honors class.

Growing up without electricity

Dawn grew up in a ramshackle home with no electricity and no running water. She often went days, even weeks without showering. She and her brother Shane -- who was equally studious in his schoolwork -- would walk 20 minutes to a public park to fetch water.

"We would get water jugs and fill them up at the park, using the spigots in the bathroom. And we would use that to flush the toilet or cook with. Stuff like that," she says.

She confided in a staff member at school. She had trouble doing homework at nighttime because her home had no electricity and she couldn't afford candles. It was difficult to read in the dark.

"OK, we'll get you some candles. We'll take care of that," said Junie Barrett, Dawn's supervisor.

Another time, Barrett says, Dawn and her brother asked if they could use the school's washing machine to clean their clothes. "I said, 'Just leave them with me. We'll get them washed, dried,' " Barrett recalls.

"We let them use our shower facilities in the locker rooms because they had no running water. They had nothing to bathe in."

Burns High was their fourth high school since middle school, as they moved from town to town. Living the life of a rolling stone, the two had missed several months' worth of classwork when they first arrived two years ago, putting them well behind other students' progress.

Shane was outgoing, but Dawn always appeared more reserved.

Guidance counselor Robyn Putnam saw the potential in Dawn and Shane early on and enrolled them in online classes to get them caught up. The work paid off.

Abandoned by parents

Last summer, Dawn was invited to attend a prestigious six-week residential summer program, the Governor's School of North Carolina, at Meredith College in Raleigh, 200 miles east of Lawndale, to study natural science. It was a field Dawn had never studied before.

The program is reserved for the state's top students.

Putnam ferried Dawn to Raleigh to attend the elite program and took her shopping, making sure she had the clothes she needed. Other faculty members contributed funds, too.

Putnam worried Dawn's home situation could worsen while she was away. "We weren't even sure where her parents were at that time. And there was an eviction notice on the house," she says. "We kept telling her to get everything she could; we knew this was a possibility."

Dawn saw her parents for 30 minutes during the middle of the summer program during a short break. They talked about her school and how she was doing. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. "It was just a regular conversation," she says.

She wouldn't hear from them again for weeks.

As she prepared to leave the summer program, she kept calling her parents' phone, only to learn it had been disconnected. Putnam picked her up and brought her back to Lawndale.

"When I returned, my grandmother had been dropped off at a local homeless shelter, my brother had just left, and my parents had just gone," she says. "I found out later they had moved to Tennessee."

Her voice is steady, matter of fact. "I never expected my parents to just, like, leave."

Dawn was abandoned.

"I'm not mad at my parents. My mom and my stepdad both think that they did what was best for me," she says.
Dawn Loggins maintained an A-average despite her hardships.
Dawn Loggins maintained an A-average despite her hardships.

In fact, she used her parents' example to drive her. "I just realize that they have their own problems that they need to work through," she says. "They do love me; I know they love me. They just don't show it in a way that most people would see as normal."

Stability in Lawndale

For a while, Dawn lived on the odd couch at friends' homes, while she figured out what to do. Sometimes, she slept on the floor. The only thing that was clear was that she wanted to stay in Lawndale, where she was active in extracurricula r activities, had a boyfriend and had a job.

Her classmates there didn't make fun of her, though she had been mercilessly mocked in middle school. "It was the worst. That's when I would come home crying because the teasing was so bad," Dawn recalled.
Helping Dawn
For those wanting to help, Dawn appreciates the generosity. She wants to use funds to form a nonprofit organization to help other homeless children. Any contributions can be sent to: Burns High School/Dawn Loggins Fund, 307 East Stagecoach Trail, Lawndale, NC 28090

She had lived with her grandmother until she was 12 and attended junior high at a school about an hour away from Lawndale during that time.

"My grandma loved me, and she taught me a lot. She had lots of crafts around and watched History Channel with us. But ..."

Dawn's voice halts, then begins again a few seconds later. "She never really explained to me and my brother the importance of bathing regularly. And our house was really disgusting. We had cockroaches everywhere. And we had trash piled literally 2 feet high. We'd have to step over it to get anywhere in the house."

Dawn would go without showering two to three months at a time and wear the same dress to school for weeks straight. "When I was little, it seemed normal to me. I didn't realize that other families weren't living the same way that I was. And because of that I got teased, the kids would call me dirty."

In Lawndale, a town of about 600 in the Appalachian foothills of western North Carolina, things were different. Dawn felt comfortable.

With her parents gone, she processed the options with her guidance counselor.

She could move yet again to Tennessee to be with her mother, or she could be turned over to the Department of Social Services. Putnam feared what that might bring. "If Dawn were to go into the system, she could be uprooted again and moved around," she says.

Dawn would turn 18 during the second semester, Putnam knew, making her an adult by law. So Putnam asked Dawn: "What do you want to do? She said, 'I want to graduate from Burns. To be in the same school two years.' "

So the community and Burns staff became her family.

Sheryl Kolton, a custodian and bus driver for Burns Middle School, had met Dawn before and knew her but not well. She wasn't expecting the phone call she received. "The counselor at the high school just called me one day and asked me if Dawn could come live here," Kolton says.

A few days later, she and her husband, Norm, agreed.

Shooting for the stars

With a roof over her head and the contributions of Burns staff to supplement the Koltons' income needed to house and feed a growing teenager, Dawn was seemingly in a stable environment. She admits that having her parents out of the picture helped.

"Honestly it was kind of a relief," she says. "I mean, I have a place to stay, and I have a job, and I'm going to school."

As she began her senior year, Dawn turned her laser-beam focus to her future: college. She knew she wanted a different path than her parents.

"When I was younger, I was able to look at all the bad choices -- at the neglect, and the drug abuse, and everything that was happening -- and make a decision for myself that I was not going to end up like my parents, living from paycheck to paycheck."

A straight-A student, Dawn was president of the photography club. She also had started a community service program collecting thousands of letters for active military troops and was involved in National Honor Society and band club. Before she took her custodian job, she ran cross country.

She wasn't top of her class, and she didn't have a perfect GPA, but she was smart. On paper, she had always fared well.

"I was looking at her transcript, and one of the lowest grades on her transcript is a 94 and that was for a class called Success 101, and the irony of that is just really amazing," Putnam says with a laugh.
Dawn Loggins says the worst thing about cleaning is snuff cans in urinals.
Dawn Loggins says the worst thing about cleaning is snuff cans in urinals.

Dawn applied to four colleges within the state: the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; North Carolina State University; Davidson College; and Warren Wilson College. In December, she sent one final application off in the mail, to her reach-for-the-stars choice, Harvard.

No one from Burns High had been accepted to the elite Ivy League school.

"I thought about it and just figured, 'Why not?' "

She asked her history teacher, Larry Gardner, for a recommendation letter. "I don't know how many times I started that letter of recommendation," he recalls. "Because how do you articulate her story into two pages? How do you explain this is a young lady who deserves a chance but hasn't had the opportunities?"

But after a prayer for wisdom, the words flowed.

"Once again, words fail me as I attempt to write this letter of recommendation," Gardner began. "I can promise I've never written one like this before and will probably not write one like this again. Because most students who face challenges that are not even remotely as difficult as Dawn's give up. This young lady has, unlike most of us, known hunger. She's known abuse and neglect, she's known homelessness and filth. Yet she's risen above it all to become such an outstanding young lady."

Months passed. She was accepted to the four schools in North Carolina. Each time, the acceptance letter came as part of a thick package with fat brochures and congratulatory notes.

Days went by. Nothing from Harvard.

But on a sunny day earlier this year, she came inside after tending the garden. There was a letter from Harvard, the type of letter every high school senior dreads from a university -- a regular-sized envelope, the ominous sign of rejection.

Cautiously, she opened it: "Dear Ms. Loggins, I'm delighted to report that the admissions committee has asked me to inform you that you will be admitted to the Harvard College class of 2016. ... We send such an early positive indication only to outstanding applicants ..."

She gasped when she read those words.

Gardner had the same reaction when she handed him the note at school the next day. "I just looked up at her, and kind of teared up because this is a young lady who ... " he stops, his voice breaking.

"When I first met her and had her brother in class, they were living in a home without electricity, without running water, they were showering at a local park in a restroom after most of the people at the park had left. This is a young lady who's been through so much and for her to receive this letter -- pretty awesome."

Not only was Dawn accepted to Harvard, she got a full ride. She was offered tuition, room and board, as well as assistance finding an on-campus job.

The tiny town of Lawndale rallied around Dawn again. They raised money to get her to Boston so she could see the school in person in April.

"We in a sense had a collective responsibility to get her to Harvard," says Aaron Allen, Burns High principal. "Even though Harvard was going to pay for Dawn to go on her own, this is a girl who's had multiple moves, never flown, never ridden a subway, never really been outside small town USA, North Carolina foothills, and you're expecting her to go to Cambridge all by herself?"

Barrett, her custodial supervisor, traveled to Cambridge with her. "When we went up there, it was just like she was at home. She will succeed, and she will excel."

For Dawn, it wasn't a foregone conclusion that she would attend, but her inaugural visit solidified the decision. "I just could not picture myself anywhere else, at any other college."

Helping others

Since Dawn's story has come out, she's attracted attention worldwide from well-wishers sending her everything from simple encouragement to monetary donations.

Dawn doesn't want the money. "When I get to college, I can work for what I need. And I know my future is going to be great."

She hopes to start a nonprofit organization to help other teens who've had obstacles in their educations, using the funds that have been sent to her. There are more than 200 students listed as homeless in Cleveland County, where Lawndale is located.

"There are so many kids whose futures aren't so sure, and they need help more than I do," she says. "I want them to be able to use my story as motivation. And I want the general public to realize that there are so many kids who need help."

The final pages of Dawn's high school chapter are nearing a close. She will walk across the stage today -- June 7 -- to accept her diploma. She has invited her parents but isn't sure they will be able to attend. "If they're not there, it would be for good reason."

But the one person she will look for in the crowd is her brother Shane.

"Throughout the years, no matter where I've been or been through, he's always been there for me," she says, with a rare ghost of a smile.

Shane will attend Berea College in Kentucky on a scholarship.

Dawn has learned the sort of lessons that can't be learned in school. "I love my parents. I disagree with the choices that they've made. But we all have to live with the consequences of our actions," she said.

She takes it all in stride. "If I had not had those experiences, I wouldn't be such a strong-willed or determined person."

She might just find Harvard to be easy.

 :-[


« Last Edit: June 08, 2012, 12:56:11 AM by jon_jon »

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Offline jon_jon

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Re: Txhuas lub npau suav yog koj~
« Reply #33 on: June 08, 2012, 01:06:29 AM »
June 8, 2012

Why am I attracted to Hmong Yang girls? Every single girl that I meet that I like are Yang's.

Even across the globe they're Yang's. Maybe I'm destined to marry one since there just seems to be some irresistible trait that they have that is drawing me in.

My parents told me to marry some other clan, I said... fine.. it doesn't matter; as long as she wants to marry me. I tried searching for other girls with different last names but found out that majority of the girls I meet that share the same commonalities are Yang's.

But when I don't even try to meet Yang girls, the Yang girls come naturally for me... lols.

My parents urge me to marry other girls besides a Yang because all my other siblings are married to one! They want some in-laws from a different clan. Too bad I can't marry one from each clan.

The only other clan I would like to marry if I can't get a Yang girl are Lees, because they seem to be non-existent, more exotic and less of them. =P



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“our worlds collided and in an instant your ocean had color because of my sky.”

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HunnayDew

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Re: Txhuas lub npau suav yog koj~
« Reply #34 on: June 08, 2012, 06:12:54 AM »
Yangs are pretty sexy. ;)



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HunnayDew

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Re: Txhuas lub npau suav yog koj~
« Reply #35 on: June 09, 2012, 06:23:49 AM »
Hollar... :-*

Kidding!

Yangs are consider the Smiths and the Nguyens in the Hmong world. Sometimes it suck being a Yang. Too many awkward moments. 

I agree. Too many good looking brothers and sisters. Lol



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Offline Ron Burgundy

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Re: Txhuas lub npau suav yog koj~
« Reply #36 on: June 09, 2012, 06:28:15 AM »
Too much Kool Aid drinking among Yangs it seems. ::)



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HunnayDew

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Re: Txhuas lub npau suav yog koj~
« Reply #37 on: June 09, 2012, 06:30:17 AM »
Too much Kool Aid drinking among Yangs it seems. ::)
You know you like what you've drank.  ;)



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Offline Ron Burgundy

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Re: Txhuas lub npau suav yog koj~
« Reply #38 on: June 09, 2012, 06:45:38 AM »
You know you like what you've drank.  ;)

I will admit to have been priviledged to know of and meet a few really beautiful Yang ladies.;D  Not so much guys because I don't look for that and I'm not gay. ::)



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Offline Ron Burgundy

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Re: Txhuas lub npau suav yog koj~
« Reply #39 on: June 09, 2012, 06:49:20 AM »
Speaking of npau suav.... Twas another night of that not happening. I've a long streak going recently. :(



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Offline jon_jon

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Re: Txhuas lub npau suav yog koj~
« Reply #40 on: June 12, 2012, 01:30:28 AM »
How sweet!  What a love story... I know she will make you very happy and will be the wife you always dream of... best of luck to you and her.  May your future be filled with long happy days.
lols.. that's just a dream.

not a reality yet.  ;)

if only those days can be spent with the one you truly love.


« Last Edit: June 12, 2012, 11:51:26 AM by jon_jon »

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Offline jon_jon

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Re: Txhuas lub npau suav yog koj~
« Reply #41 on: June 14, 2012, 01:08:58 AM »
June 14, 2012

Tonight I'm surrendering the things in which I can not control over to you God. For I know that you work for the good of those who love you, who are called accordingly to your purpose.

The Serenity Prayer

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

        --Reinhold Niebuhr

Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will direct your paths.
Proverbs 3, 5-6



« Last Edit: June 26, 2012, 01:45:39 AM by jon_jon »

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Offline jon_jon

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Re: Txhuas lub npau suav yog koj~
« Reply #42 on: June 26, 2012, 02:34:22 AM »
June 29, 2012

Something I learned in my past about receiving advice from others. Is that sometimes your loved ones may not know what's truly in your heart and may not have the best advice out there. Even though they want the best for you and are on your side for your best interest. Most will tell you to do one thing or the other because they think it's right. They've already made the decision for you. But it doesn't necessarily mean that it's what you want to do or have it in your heart to follow. This is why most people live a life that is run by their parents, family, and peers.

It's not wrong to seek advice from them or talk with them, but you must remember to listen to your heart and follow your heart's intuition. Guard your heart, and don't just take any old advice given to you. Learn to separate good advice from poor ones then you'll go far.

I think I've taken good advice so far but looking back sometimes people gave me bad advice out of ignorance and pure jealous motives because they didn't want to see me succeed...  ::) However, i gotta stay positive here. Have you guys received compliments lately? Well, I have. It sure feels good when things are kind of blah these days.

Three compliments that I received this month from out of nowhere that has been keeping me going strong. Two of them came from my Indian friend's wedding last two weeks ago. Both of them came during the dance reception. I know I'm not suppose to be at a dance reception, coz I'm Christian and all... but hey, i'm bad arse like that. It's just a dance reception! His mom and dad were dancing with us...lols. we all had a blast.

ok, 1st compliment came when I was sitting down at our table and one of the girls asked if I was korean/chinese? Shall i take that as a compliment? She said I didn't look Hmong at first until I told them.

2nd compliment came after the dance was almost over around mid night. The groom (my best friend) and I were talking and he said that he should have made me a grooms men. I told him he shouldn't have worried and that whatever his decision was I would have been happy for him and that it was a privilege to be a guest at his wedding. Then he told me that I had such a good-heart and that he loved me. That was the first time he said that, the "i love u part"... from a guy to a guy (no homo).... we're brothers at heart. We know each other for about 10 years now.

3rd compliment, one of my youth guys told me it's not fair that I take off my shirt while at camp because I have abs and he didn't (no homo)... lols. Since when did I started having abs? it's still a work in progress, but that felt great, hardwork pays off...  8)



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“our worlds collided and in an instant your ocean had color because of my sky.”

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LadyLionness

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Re: Txhuas lub npau suav yog koj~
« Reply #43 on: June 26, 2012, 08:26:07 AM »
jon,
First of all, dancing is NOT a sin.  It is not in the Bible.  Even King David danced.  The argument is that dancing can lead to sin.  You know as well as I do that tempations is everywhere, including in the church.
 
Second, I agree with you, sometimes family members give great advice and sometimes they don't.  I am learning to listen to my heart and when a piece of advice does not put my heart and mind at peace... I go to the Bible and seek God's words... when I find an answer to echo's God's words, then I am happy and at peace.
 
And then there's my bestfriend, who thinks alot like me and is the only one who was able to give me an answer to a life turning delima that the minute I heard it, it made total sense and I knew it was according to God's will.  So, thank God for Godly bestfriends.



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Offline jon_jon

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Re: Txhuas lub npau suav yog koj~
« Reply #44 on: June 26, 2012, 02:38:39 PM »
jon,
First of all, dancing is NOT a sin.  It is not in the Bible.  Even King David danced.  The argument is that dancing can lead to sin.  You know as well as I do that tempations is everywhere, including in the church.
 
Second, I agree with you, sometimes family members give great advice and sometimes they don't.  I am learning to listen to my heart and when a piece of advice does not put my heart and mind at peace... I go to the Bible and seek God's words... when I find an answer to echo's God's words, then I am happy and at peace.
 
And then there's my bestfriend, who thinks alot like me and is the only one who was able to give me an answer to a life turning delima that the minute I heard it, it made total sense and I knew it was according to God's will.  So, thank God for Godly bestfriends.
dancing is just dancing to me...

thinking back, some of the worst advice i've received came straight from my parents and the others from siblings. the only reason why you listen is that they're supposedly the ones you trust and the ones you love. they should know best, but i don't think they'll ever live in your shoes...

i've had great friends who were able to listen to me and be my devil's advocate over-time. they've kept me sane throughout all these years. just having someone to listen to your needs is a fortune to have.


« Last Edit: July 03, 2012, 03:44:29 PM by jon_jon »

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“our worlds collided and in an instant your ocean had color because of my sky.”

—r.m. drake

 

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