A Page That's Turned...

I was somehow unlucky enough to get stuck with a birthday the week before PASS testing. I don't really like working on my birthday, not because I think there should be a law against getting up early on your birthday (which, of course, there should!), but because I have always found birthdays to be a better time to stop and reflect on the direction of my life than the New Year. So tomorrow I'll be up early and out the door ready to review more South Carolina history before I get the chance to review my own.

Yesterday was one in a million, yesterday was just a blur

Yesterday was like a whirlwind, yesterday is a lesson learned

Yesterday was the chance of a lifetime, yesterday is a big regret

Yesterday wasn't quite enough time, it was a joke that I just didn't get.

May 6, 2009, seems so long ago and yet just like yesterday. There is so much that happened, so much I'll never forget, so much I already don't remember. I do know, however, that for all that has happened, good and bad, I have a richer, fuller, more meaningful life than I did a year ago today. I have...

...made new friends and lost some.

...gained a few more scars on both my hands and my heart.

...decided that there are things more important than grading papers.

...taken risks I never anticipated.

...realized that I don't need to apologize for who I am.

...faced the fact that those I love won't necessarily be around as long as I want them to.

Yesterday was a big disaster, yesterday I was the boss

Yesterday couldn't have gone faster, yesterday was one big loss

Yesterday I was the big dog, yesterday I was the tree

Yesterday I rolled with the punches, yesterday keeps hitting me

I have learned so much this year...

...that sometimes the things we want to do least are the ways God blesses us most.

...about the fickleness of human nature and the inconsistency of my own.

...that sometime mediocrity is okay, if it is simply a stepping stone from failure to success.

...that true friends will be there forever and the rest quickly fall by the wayside.

...that just when things seem hopeless, God sends a reminder of His hope.

...that sometimes walking for hours is the most restful thing I can do.

...that I can embrace the things I enjoy, simply because I enjoy them (like writing this blog).

But the bridge has burned, the thing I've learned is:

Starting new with a brand new sunrise,

Moving on with the things I've learned

Amazing grace has made me realize

That yesterday is a page that's turned... page that's turned...

Tomorrow, I start a new page.

(words in italics are the lyrics to Jonny Diaz's "Yesterday")