Half Birthday

My half birthday was yesterday. Once you reach a certain age, half birthdays don't seem to matter much... I mean, after all, your still the same age... just half way along... I wouldn't have even remembered had my teacher not placed a note and two cupcakes in my locker on Friday because she wouldn't get to on my real birthday which falls out in the summer (That always bugged me because my birthday falls out after school ends but usually before camp starts and during that midway point between the two, people often don't have time for parties... I got lucky this summer and the lady I worked with made me cupcakes.)

Anyhow, I thought it was really nice of my teacher... Her little note was a small reminder for me to assess myself and see where I am in life... So a few questions flit through my mind, causing me to wonder... am I any different then I was six months ago? Have I changed-for the better? Or C"V for the worse? Am I any smarter? Have I learned anything new? Have I made any new friends or... lost some? Six months in retrospect isn't a long time... but when I think about the six months ahead, I see I have a long way to go. The road I have traveled is just a memory, fading into my past, but it is that road I have traveled that has brought me to where I am now, and to where I am going... so the question is, how do I get to the destination I hope to reach by my next whole birthday? Do I want to be stuck somewhere on the side of the road, lost with no direction about how to keep moving forward? Or do I want some guidance now so I can get to where I want to be?

Life is funny how certain events or situations cause us to ask the hard questions that lurk in our minds... and yet sometimes, we are so busy we never get a chance to answer them. Of course we all want to grow. Of course we want to reach those landmarks on our maps of life... we want to reach our destinations safely and look back on the journey and say "Wow, what a ride! Can't wait to keep moving forward!" So when we get stopped at a red light (in the figurative road of life) we have to take the time and use it wisely to think about all those things that will help us to grow and become better people... (and maybe better drivers at the same time...)

So, a day after my half birthday I am going to find some time this week to think about where I am in life and where I want to go... and even if it isn't your birthday/half birthday/life milestone this week, I recommend you find some time to do the same... a little introspection now and then never hurt anyone, right?

Hopefully I'll meet you all somewhere along the way and we can look back and say, "Wow! What a ride! Can't wait to keep moving forward!"