"And wuv, tru wuv, will fowow you foweva... "

I went to my parents' house last night,
knowing I probably wouldn't sleep very
well and probably would be up far longer
than anyone else in the house.
I was happily surprised that my mom
stayed in the guest room with me
(since there are two beds in there and
because my dad has sick germs floating
around him) and we stayed up and talked
until 2 this morning.

One thing I asked my mother was if she
thought it was weird that I hadn't married
yet, or that I was nowhere close.
My mother being the most honest person
I know, told me "yes, at times".
She said she isn't worried about it, but
that sometimes she wonders as she
sees so many of her friends' children
getting married and having their
own children.

I wonder the same thing myself.

It seems that as people get older the
natural thing is to find someone that
you can spend your life with.
To start a new life of your own since
your parents no longer are your
companions.
Personally, I haven't really had the
drive to do any of that until recently.
I am not sure why I was so turned
off to the idea for so long, but
suddenly a switch went off and I
have a longing for someone else in
my life to have as a companion.

I have never believed that "love" is
a magic word or even a magic emotion.
I think just like every other emotion
it can come and go with the passing day,
passing hour or even passing minute.
I also believe "love" is not what keeps
people together.
I know the few people in this world that
know me enough to love me, would not
love me every minute of the day.
I know I can be difficult at times to even
put up with, let alone love.
I think people mistake that so many times.
They expect this grandiose "feeling" to stay
with them for years and years.
It just isn't a logical way of living.

I know I am picky. I know I am guarded.
I take my time. I don't think there is a
damn thing wrong with that.
I know my mom wants the best for me
and that she wouldn't want me to rush
into anything just because I felt pressure.

So with the new year approaching, I am
going to be doing things a little different
this year.
Not as many bars. Not as many bands.
Try to find a quality man. One that
thinks the same way I do about that
crazy thing people call "love".

all my love to all...

C

The domino effect

As I sit over my Cheerios at work,
I remember something my friend
told me the other day.
She told me that someone I knew
was broken.
After she said that I have constantly
been thinking of what makes a
broken person and if that person is
ever fixable.

I also wonder if this problem has a
domino effect with relationships
they are involved in after the fact.
They can't love so they in turn
hurt someone else which makes
that person broken also.
The process just goes on and on
until the whole world are incapable
of loving another person other
than the one that hurt them.

At what point do you become
broken?

Personally, I think I should be at
that point by now, with all the
failed attempts at finding someone
that makes me truly happy.
But for whatever reason, I have a
feeling, whenever another person
comes around that I "spark" with,
I will forget all about the past
failures.

I have seen this numerous times.
My family members have experienced
it even.
But everyone I seem to know that
is "broken" ended up with someone
that he/she could be with.
So at what point are they fixed?
Will they ever be fixed?
Will they ever love again?

I think so. I am just not sure what
type of person it takes to break
the domino effect.
To make them realize that everyone
is scared shitless to put themselves
out there, and possibly just to be hurt...
once again.
Maybe it just takes feeling so strongly
for someone for the risk to be taken.

I realized after all this was brought to
my attention that the broken ones
were the type of men that I was
attracted to, or the ones attracted to me.
It is a dead end road from the very
beginning.
Maybe it's the challenge of it all,
I don't really know (it must be
a part of subconscious that I
haven't tapped into yet).
Whatever the reason, it needs to
stop. The last one was enough.
I need an emotionally available
man, not one that can't get over
getting hurt in the past.
Lord knows I have gotten over it.
I still put myself out there, but
hey, maybe the feelings these
people have had for me just
aren't strong enough to get them
over the scared part. It isn't
worth it to them.

I am stopping the domino effect
right here. I will not fall over
with the rest.

Love to all...
because I still believe.

C

Ramble on

Well as luck would have it, I have a cold.
My head is full of fuzz and I can't breath
through my nose, or hear out of my ears.
I always seem to get sick when there is
something important lingering.
Friday is a step in a new direction for me,
hopefully.

I blame my lovely roommate for this
illness, because no matter how many
times I would "remind" her, she
refused to use my anti-viral Kleenex.
She went to the doc-in-the-box and
they gave her amoxicillin (dumb)
and sent her on her way.
This antibiotic of course is not helpful
for a common cold or even a severe
upper respiratory infection.
Sometimes I just want to slap these
people and tell them their years
of school taught them nothing.

Not much has happened with the
men in my life, they fade in and out
with each passing day, which draws
me to depend on them from less
to not at all.

I wish I had some great news to
bring up but hopefully next week
I will be busting at the seams with
good news, not today though.

I don't even really know what to
write since my head feels detached
from my body completely.

Stay well and warm...

love to all.
C

The past and the present

I have been dreading this entry.
It has crossed my mind at least 1oo times
since it happened and I know the only way
for me to make light of it, is to write.
To see it staring at me in my face.
It is much harder to hide from when it is
standing right in front of me, standing on
my toes, nose-to-nose.

After my last post, I had many hesitations,
but I finally decided to see the person who
had suddenly showed interest in being in
my life again, after so long of not.
"I should be nervous", I kept telling myself
as I was driving in his direction. I wasn't.
Anyone who knows me, knows I get nervous
about EVERYTHING. Anything and everything.
I took me awhile to warm up to the idea
that I was bringing two worlds together.
My past and my present.
I took him where I felt comfortable and
had planned to play a game with friends.
We quickly found ourselves talking only
to each other and not even paying
attention to the people playing the game.

We talked about a lot of different things.
I was racking my brain for questions to
ask him. I asked what I could then
found myself with nothing more.
I mean, what do you say to someone
you used to know so well and has
turned into this different person,
and all in good ways.
We talked about kids and families.
We talked about plans.
We talked about girlfriends/and the
lack of my boyfriends.

Then he hit me with something I
wasn't ready for.
I had been silent for awhile, trying
to think of things to talk about,
when he said, "you know, Caroline,
you aren't really the same person
you used to be."
I felt my breath leave my lungs
and struggled to get any air back
in them.
I was afraid he would say this.
"In a good way or bad way?"
finally I managed to say.
He said, "both".
Not in a mean way, but in a
completely honest way that I was
hoping he would never notice.
Mainly because I know who I am
now is not what I used to be,
mostly because I have become
very callused to the world and to
the things that upset me.
I would get a really huge dose of
this later in the night.

I was suddenly afraid that I was
no longer the soft, loving person
he remembered me as.
I thought of things he could be
thinking that I now resembled.
An empty shell of a person, one that
no longer has feeling in my face.
Maybe just a guarded person, that no
longer lets anyone in.
So I did what any person would do,
I quickly changed the subject.

The rest of the evening went more
smoothly after that point.
I talked freely about things in our
past. I talked about the things I
had recently gone through.
But then once again he said something
I wasn't expecting and something
I thought I wanted to talk to people
about until it actually happened.
He said he thought I was still wanted
the last guy I had liked.
My simple response was, "no, why would
I want someone who doesn't want me?"
At the time I said it, I wanted to take it
back, and say what I had said for weeks
now, that everything was fine.

It took a few hours for those words to
really sink in, and when they did, I
felt exactly what I thought I would.
I was glad I finally felt something
though, I thought there was no
way I would get over someone that
quickly and effortlessly.

I am glad to have my friend back in my life.
Glad to have someone who holds
so much of my past, but at the same
time scared to death of the ways he
could hurt me all over again.
I know he is different but there is
a large part of me that can't get
over things that easily.
We shall see, I suppose.

Love to all.

C

Surprises in unexpected places

Oh man, what a weird 24 hours I have had.
Yesterday I left my house once for groceries,
food for the dog and movies.
I had my pajamas on from the time I got out
of bed until this morning. I watched 3 movies.
I had a severe case of multiple personality
disorder in regard to my emotions.
One minute I would feel lonely, the next
angry and the following minute content.
I have no idea why this was happening,
I would get over each emotion quickly
and it would be on to the next one.

The loneliness lasted throughout the day.
It strung itself through all the other emotions
and would peak its ugly face all too commonly.
By midnight last night, I had enough.
I finally had to call someone just to have
someone talk me through it, maybe make
me laugh and forget about it.
As I tried to go through my strong support
system, I found myself calling the one
person that I knew had to be going through
something similar. The one person who had
earlier in the day said a prayer for me without
asking questions or expecting praise.
I called my first love.
The person who broke me entirely.
But also the person who has made such a huge
turn-around in his life, that even I (being the
cynical person I am) can't believe it.

We haven't kept in very good contact over
the past 2 years, mostly by my decision.
Just a phone call here and there to make
sure we were still alive and where we were.
Recently, we have been talking more often.
I have realized he is now the person who
I knew he could always be.

So I called last night, waking him of course,
but he still answered and talked to me for
almost an hour. When he had asked how
my day was, I had simply said fine at first
then as the conversation progressed I
ended up telling him I was lonely and
didn't know how to make it go away.
He said he understood how I felt.
As we continued to talk he finally told
me that there was something he had
been wanting to tell me for awhile but
he didn't know how I would
react when he told it to me.
Then he dropped the biggest shock of
my year: he told me loved me...
I am not sure if he told me that as a
friend or as something more.
My response after a moment of silence
was simply, "why?"

I have always considered myself an
unlovable person. Someone no one
could really love, no matter what my
feelings were towards the other person.
I even wrote a monologue to myself
about this specific thing, giving
explanations and examples of why
this was true for me.
I never felt this way because I didn't
want to be loved, but because since I
was 19 years old, no one has.

So one can only imagine the impact
these few words meant to me.
His reasoning for saying them or the
intent he has tacked on them doesn't
matter, he had just proved my theory,
the one I that followed me everywhere,
wrong.

I woke up this morning still sad about
spending my first holiday completely
alone, but those words still ringing in
my head; not to get some kind of romantic
hopes up, but just knowing someone could.
This person knows me very well. We dated
years ago and were friends up
until about 2 years ago, close friends at that.
He knows what I look like without make-up.
He has seen every phase of my hair.
I have seen/met/and gave advice about his
many girlfriends.

Not many people I am close to approve of
our contact, merely because they know what
kind of relationship we had before.
But like I told him, no one understood that I
always saw him for the person I knew that
was hidden somewhere inside.
I had given up on ever seeing that person,
which is why we lost contact.

So all this for the fact that I had a blessing
last night, hidden somewhere that I never
expected it.
Those are the moments in life that I love.
The surprises that I never saw coming.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.
I am thankful for everyone that is in
my life. You are what keeps me going,
smiling, dreaming, and believing in good.

Love and thankfulness to all...
C

My life is no longer simple

Two weeks ago I made a very hard decision
and decided to hold off on grad school until Fall.
This obviously wasn't my first choice, but the
closer the semester came, I realize how
unprepared I was for my entrance exam and
how the funds were just simply not there to
pay for it (along with my other bills).
It was really difficult to try and not feel
disappointed in myself over not getting
it all in on time and not studying harder.
I have to keep my momentum up until
Fall so that it not just another pipe-dream.

On the same day as this hard decision, I had
another decision made for me. The person I
had finally told my feelings to, decided to tell
me he did not feel the same. Of course, I was
disappointed to hear this, but for some reason
had a positive outlook regardless (which is
something very new to me). I did not get
upset, I did not blame myself or him for that
matter, that things didn't work the way I wanted.

I started my part-time job and find myself in the
finishing days. I haven't jogged in these few weeks
and my body is slowly showing the signs of this.
I have a least been trying to climb numerous
flights of stairs while at work, to keep some
kind of exercise going. I have probably gained
that five pounds back that I lost a month ago,
but eagerly plan on getting back into my
normal routine once my schedule gets back
to normal.

I have been slacking severely on my writing,
and that is also showing signs of decline, but
I have at least been reading and I hope to
start painting again very soon.

My social life has taken a dip but I feel it for
the better. I enjoy myself more when I do
get to go out, and I don't stay out as late
even if I don't have to get up early.

I try and live my life without regrets, and
I feel that this past month is no different.
I have forced myself to do more than I
thought I could as far as working two jobs,
and I have managed to get over someone
I never thought I would without struggle.
I have kept my thoughts more positive,
and all my options open as far as meeting
new people and getting to know them.
I have re-kindled friendships (ironically,
and without my effort) with two of my
ex's over the past month, and I have
really enjoyed getting to know each of
them again, they have both changed a lot.

Moving fast and moving forward.
Keeping my mind clear and my heart
open. I have been praying more, which
I had kept at a minimum for a long time.
I feel stronger and I feel more happy with
myself and the decisions I have made and
will make in the next few months.

I am thankful for so many things this year
for Thanksgiving.

Be happy and well...

love to all.
C

You may think I have gone missing

The closer the deadline gets for school, the more stressed I am about it. My entrance exam is next Tuesday, and I am trying to study as much as possible. As well as getting all my paperwork in. My fuse is low lately, as I am trying to keep everything all together.

I start my part-time job tomorrow. It should be interesting. Not that I haven't worked with my mom before, I have many times, but this time I am going to work there before my other job. Which means I will be getting up around 7 every morning and not getting home until between 10 and 11:30 at night. This also means I will have no social life for the next 4 weeks. Since the job is just seasonal, I just have to get through 4 weeks. I will probably be a frazzled mess but oh well, I need the extra money in the worst way.

Not much else is new. My mind has been taken over with school stuff and every once in awhile other thoughts are thrown in there that are negative, so I have been trying to busy myself so those negative thoughts have nowhere to thrive. It's a very intense battle though.

The good news through all of this is I have lost 5 pounds in a week. Maybe it was the week I was sick, who knows. I saw my rib bones in my back which I haven't seen in years. I no longer have love handles anymore. All around, I am happy about it. I just have to keep up the exercising, which is going to be really hard now that I don't really have time to do it. I will try to figure something out. I have noticed that exercise keeps me happy though, which is why I need it right now to get through all that stress.

Send prayers, good thoughts, good vibes, etc. my way next Tuesday and the next few weeks.

Love to all.

C