Fresh Face

The best thing about new beginnings is that you can be whoever you want to be. No one knows your history, your strengths, or your weaknesses. You can be the class clown, you can be the overachiever, the encourager, or just stand back and watch from the sidelines- it’s all your choice. It’s true that when you leave somewhere you take your bags with you, but you get to decide what to unpack at the next destination.

Submitted by: Lisa Marie

Detach

The hardest part of a new beginning is acknowledging that you have to let go of who you once were.

Submitted by: Anonymous

Globetrotter

When I was younger, my Dad had a job that had us move from country to country. As a child, one of the most difficult things was to leave all the good friends I had made and say goodbye for what could potentially be forever. The only thing that topped that was to go to a brand new country with a brand new language and a brand new culture and have to have a brand new beginning. I learned looking back that once you first open your mind and endure the beginnings, it's always worth it in one way or another.

Submitted by: Siaka Harding

The Good Life

My grandfather passed away last week at the age of 90. There were a few lessons that I have learned from him that I thought I would share.

1. It is better to listen well then to speak well. My Pop-pop always listened to us. He usually didn't give his advice right away but he let us work through situations and learn from our mistakes and our accomplishments. Then he would tell us what he really thought.

2. Always stay active. Up to his death he was an active man. Slower in pace as the years piled on but active still. He played golf through his eighties and even got a hole in one and he played bocce ball and traveled.

3. Set your goals and make them happen. In the 1990's he got cancer and fought through it with surgeries and treatment. He set a goal that he would live to see the year 2000, and became healthy again and accomplished it. Then after my grandmother died in 2004 he set another goal to travel to the Panama Canal. This past March he took a cruise through the canal and loved it.

4. Take time to watch the sunsets. You see them a zillion times but they are beautiful each time and oh so different. His house on the river has a porch where he would sit and watch the sunset each evening. They mark a beautiful life.

5. Err on the side of patience.

The good things in life will come if only you are patient.He was the most patient, kind and considerate man I have ever known. He will be missed greatly in this world.

Submitted by: Whitney

Goonie Adventures

Ever since graduating from college I've had the pleasure of traveling all over the world. Every year my friends and I would make plans to get together and see some of the most beautiful destinations in the world. Hawaii, Mexico, Central America, South America, Europe, Asia-- some of the best times of my life. As great as those trips were, an interesting thing would always happen at the end of each trip-- something I like to call "Return Flight Blues". At the end of each trip I would sit on the airplane on my return flight home and recap all the fun things we did during our trip. Without fail I would get nostalgic, and without fail I would get sad to see such fun times come to an end.

Lesson learned: New adventures never last forever, but I let my nostalgia inspire me to make the next one bigger and better than the last.