What is ‘Home’?

Hello, to everyone lucky enough to read this post! 😉

Today, as you might notice, I am posing a question to everyone. I want to know what everyone considers ‘home’. I will describe, sometimes in explicit detail, what I consider to be ‘home’ and ask questions throughout my descriptions.

For me, home is where I am greeted by smiles, genuine smiles.

Home is where I am offered hugs and encouragement on a daily basis. I love hugs. ❤

To me, home is where I go to find peace, where I go to feel appreciated.

Home is where I am loved and cherished.

From my perspective, home is where I can find joy, sorrow, pain, relief, and most importantly, an abundance of love.

Home is where my loved ones are; be it a car, a residence, a school, a soccer field, a football stadium . . you get my point.

Home, at any location it happens to be, is glorious and replenishing. Home is a place where I feel truth (no matter how much it hurts), love, anger, frustration, humble, capable, elated, pained, and indescribable and euphoric peace.

Home is where we plan the rest of our lives. Home makes us into the people we will be forever.

My family is so important to me that I cannot possibly find words to describe them. We have a little plaque on our windowsill in the kitchen saying “We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.” and I couldn’t possibly capture the value of my family in a more apt sentence.

I mean, sure there have been financial struggle, there probably will be for another ten years (at least), and we have had emotional/interpersonal challenges to overcome, but my family has absolutely everything under the sun that any person could ever desire in having genuine love for eachother. ❤

My family, brother, sisters, cousins, Aunts Uncles and Grandmother are everything one could ever hope for in such family members. ❤

Home places to be considered as ‘home’ could also be with friends. Friends are just as capable of making me feel as though I am at home. ❤
I have heard a saying once or twice in my life and it really resounds to my heart in how I think of my friends. It goes something like this: “Family is family by blood, but friends are family by choice”. That has really stuck to my heart because while it is true that I love my family and I am so far beyond blessed to have been born into that family that I was, the dear friends that I have chose to be my family, even though they did not have any genetic obligation to admit to knowing me, as several did during my worst times.

My friends, and I only have a handful of truly great friends, have chosen to adopt me into their lives. This means so much to me because after my car accident and resulting Traumatic Brain Injury, I became a person that I myself would not even admit to knowing, and the few that stuck by me are to be cherished by me almost as much as my own life. ❤

Home, to me is feeling love. That little four letter word that can mean so much, but is often misused. Love is where home is.

With that, I am going to do house chores and prepare for a beloved friend’s graduation party, so I leave you to answer my question: What is ‘home’ to you?

God Bless

~Alexandra Mae ❤

Perspective

Hello, everyone! 🙂

I am back once again. 😉

This time, I am home. So there will be something relevant talk about now.

I forgot my study bible at my apartment today, and I’m really sad because I love reading it. It gives me new (old) perspectives on life, learning new perspectives is something that I love. 🙂 I feel that if someone is trying to teach me so1 me thing outside of my perspective, the best way for me to fully grasp the lesson is for me to hear at least two perspectives outside of my own.

For example, in school I have always struggled with mathematics/analytical thinking because it was always presented to me from one perspective, that of the instructor. I have read books about an old, Greek/Roman method of teaching mathematics and other analytical thought problems as a game, which offers me a second perspective to evaluate and learn from.  When I begin my math course at the end of next month, I will try7 and learn math as a game instead of as a science. It sounds crazy, I know. But, I am going to try it if I come across any problems in learning the material.

In high school, I was a history buff, always in the higher level history courses, and I now realize why that is! History is no more than perspective! ❤

My current major, the one that I will graduate with, is Literature, which is pretty much perspectives on history in stories, should they be in poems, essays or what ever the format.

My minors, Technical communication and French, both have to do with perspectives as well, in fact. 😉

Technical communication is about the perspective of professionally writing in a certain professional setting.  Which ever profession one goes into after their highest level of education, the profession likely has to do with writing, speaking in that profession’s perspective of effectively communicating.

French is all about perspective because in this minor, my colleagues and I are evaluating the French/Francophone world through our perspective and attempting o see the world through the eyes of the French/Francophone people themselves, switching perspectives. 😉

Life is all about love, an idea that I could go on about for the rest od my life, but life is also about perspectives from which we love. Everyone has a story, something that makes them unique, everyone has a view of the world, a reason they think they way they do. Everyone has their own image of the past, even if it is shared with another person or many other people. Everyone has his/her own individual perspective, a story to go with it and each person has a different perspective because of their individual/shared experience.

In my life, I hope to learn about a perspective so far out of my realm of expectations. I want to study perspectives all around the world for the rest of my life. ❤ I also hope to absolve the world of war, hunger, hate and malnutrition. . . .

Peace and love. I was born in 19993, but I’m a hippie child all the way. Peace and love are what we need in this world. Those two mentalities are what this world has been in need of since the Renaissance 14th/15th centuries. ❤ Our world is messed u, as all we nee to do is learn to appreciate other perspectives more, and every human (and nonhuman, eventually) life will be better. 😉 ❤

Amour et Pais tout le voyager au vie. ❤

God Bless

~Alexandra

Apples

Or in my case, a singular apple.

Hello, everyone! 🙂

I’m back at my apartment for the day while my Daddy’s at work. Because of the busy day my family has tomorrow, I am going home with him tonight. My cousin is graduating from high school tomorrow evening, and I’m so happy for her! 🙂

She’s going to one of the colleges in In Indiana, I get confused on which one’s which. :p . . . . . . . .
It doesn’t really matter all that much. I’m proud that she is going to college. Her mother does more of a smothering, than mothering with my two young cousins.

The title of this post is what I am doing right now, more or less; eating an apple.  My cousin has nothing to do with this apple, I’m just proud of her and wanted to mention her graduation tomorrow night. Stream of consciousness hits me and forces me to talk/write about it.

The apple is Honeycrisp, my favorite. ❤ I was listening to NPR’s T.E.D. talk show yesterday, and in one of the talks they speaker was talking about increasing endorphins. I get the runner’s high and I absolutely ADORE Pilates and Yoga, but I decided to increase my food-endorphin-consumption by eating bananas, apples and other food that naturally increase endorphins in my metabolic system. Bananas are my favorite fruit ever. They are the only naturally occurring sweet candy-like food that I genuinely enjoy eating. The extent to which I enjoy apples is not even close to how much I love bananas. ❤

I wish I had some bananas here at my apartment. . . . . I wish that I could go buy some bananas.
I have three Honeycrisp apples here in the crisping department of my fridge, and that’s all well and good, but I really just want more bananas. :p

They are so sweet and I love how easily they melt apart in my mouth.  Bananas taste like Heaven to me. I wish that I could eat one everyday of the rest of my life for breakfast.  They’re the healthiest ‘junk food’ that I will ever eat. 😉  ❤

I’m rambling right now because I’m trying to fill time before my Dad comes to pick me up in 90-120 minutes. I guess that I could sleep. . . . But then I’ll be all groggy and tired on the way home. :p

Whatever, it’s my Dad. He’ll understand. I’ll be back later! (:

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Ducks win in overtime; one victory away from Finals

Very unbiased and factual. Good reporting. 🙂

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So far, the Western Conference Finals have been a roller-coaster ride of thrills and chills. Game five was no exception. The Anaheim Ducks and the Chicago Blackhawks continue to make hockey fans wonder which team will cross the finish line.

Anaheim built a three goal lead in the first period. The Ducks quick-strike offense made an early statement. Cam Fowler and Ryan Kesler each scored 32 seconds apart. Minutes later, Sami Vatanen notched his third of the playoffs.

However, Chicago did not succumb to the Anaheim barrier. Goals by Teuvo Teravainen and Brent Seabrook pulled the Blackhawks to within one. After being outshot, 11-3, in the first period, the Blackhawks turned the tide in the second, outshooting the Ducks, 13-5.

Patrick Maroon gave the Ducks a two goal lead with 5:15 remaining in regulation. The game was all but over. It appeared that all of the Anaheim fans would go home happy…

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Fifth Grade Camp

Hello, everyone! 🙂

Today, May 26th, 2015, my baby sister goes to fifth grade camp at Camp Nawakwa in Gettysburg Pennsylvania. I went there umpteen years ago when I was in fifth grade, and I wish that I could go with her. Camp Nawakwa is so much fun for fifth graders! There is a pool, a cafeteria and a delightful camp office area and it pretty much sits on the soil that America’s Civil War was fought on.  The history of the Civil War is so much fun for these kids, as it was or me. I am so happy that my school district still takes kids to Gettysburg at the end of the fifth grade year, it’s one of my fondest memories before being thrown into the dungeon that is the Middle School in sixth grade.

There really isn’t much that I can talk about regarding fifth grade camp, aside from my hope for my baby sister to have a blast. So, I won’t bore you all with news about what an incredible young lady she is turning out to be just yet. Instead I will give a brief update on the rest of my beloved family, including our two puppy dogs and seven billion cats. :p

My father is working hard, per usual as the tool engineer manager for the old Magee company. He gets to go overseas to China after he spends a week in South Bend Indiana and I am so jealous of him being paid good money to travel all about the globe.  :p

Ideally, I will be able to travel like he does. Maybe I’ll get to take my children to important historical places as I travel. I want to be a teacher/stay-at-home/travelling-mom. Unfortunately, I think that I have to get my teaching degree in order to do that. Meh. More schooling, though, is always fun! 🙂 I love school. ❤

It’s invigorating to my brain, and I love a good challenge. 😉

My Mother- speaking of mothers- is great! She and I, as noted in one of the last postings,  have reconciled our differences and become very close friends once again. We spent most of the past three-day/holiday weekend together. 🙂  I really love my Mommy. ❤

My oldest little sister is also doing very well!

My little brother is also awesome. It’s funny calling him my little brother because he’s four inches taller than me, and not done growing yet. 😉 He plays soccer and takes German in High School.  He’s also going to be the leader of the free world after he joins the Army and finishes college. Yes, that’s right. My baby brother is going to be POTUS someday.

My baby sister, the one going to Fifth Grade Camp is a delightful young lady as well. She, also, is a leader in her group of friends, and she has the best likelihood of being the most successful one of us four children. She stays physically active with soccer and Field Hockey. I could see her taking French, like I did, or Spanish like my older little  sister, or German like my brother.

Our puppies are newly cleaned! My Mom and baby sister gave them baths this weekend, so they are bearable to touch, though I am not shy from some doggy ick, after all; even the stinky ones need love. 😉 Women do often love men, right?! :p

Haha. 🙂 The seven billion cats, which is actually only seven or eight. My Momma diligently cares for them, so they are healthy and good. You see, my family lives amid a huge farm, so there are generally mice for the cats to chase and eat along with the food my Momma provides for them, and the farmer is okay with us having cats because they kill the mice that eat his crops. 🙂

My baby sister also adores the seven or eight cats that we have, so it ties back to her. 🙂  She loves the cats, but she will not help clean up after them, or feed them. She’s sill eleven, so I’ll give her another five years before she becomes responsible for anyone, or anything, but herself.

Now that I’ve talked about all other life in my family’s house, I will update all of my readers on myself. I am home (alone! Praise the Lord!) today, and I am so happy to be here. 🙂 I love my family, as I’ve said before, more than mere words could account for. There is not a thing that I would not do for any member of my family. his includes my cousins. They are all amazing people.

Today, my computer is bring slow, so I’m going to wrap up and call this post a finished product! 🙂

Au revoir, tout le monde!

Tout mon amour! ❤

~Alexandra Mae

Sens de la Vie

Bonjour, tour le monde! ❤

Aujourd’hui, je voudrais parle somme la sense de la vie.

So, while talking about the meaning of life, one must certainly mention love. For, I believe that love is central to the meaning of life. I believe that the meaning of life is to love and serve others. Today, America honors soldiers that serve our nation in a myriad of armed forces. However, I feel that the people of this great nation have lost sight of what this holiday is for.  I know that my family recognizes all of the soldiers that are or have been out there fighting for us with our 50 little American flags strewn across our yard, but most of our neighbors don’t even have one flag to recognize the men that fight and the men and women who fought and died in an effort to preserve our freedom.

My mother’s father, Reuben, was a Naval Boatswain’s Mate, second class and his specialty during the war was keeping the men’s hair cut perfectly on top of his other Naval military duties. My Grandpa Rube died from a car accident when my mother was eight years old, so I never had the privilege of meeting him.

My father’s dad, my dear Grandpa Bill, was a First Class Private for the Army (PFC). He lived for the first seventeen years of my life. He was ornery and sometimes rude (especially towards the end of his life), but he was so sweet most of the time, that I have a hard time remembering him in any other way.

More important than me missing my Grandpa Bill dearly is the fact that both of my grandfathers served in the military for enough years to receive military funerals and timeless honor from the citizens of our country.

They are the reason that my little brother wants to serve in the military. Please do not misunderstand me, I admire his insatiable desire to honor our nation with service in the military, but I do not want him to accidentally get killed in training or some other freak accident. I don’t think that our family could handle losing my brother. He is so indescribably important to all of us. He embodies the meaning of the title of this post, which I believe is to love and serve others by any means possible.

The meaning of life. That big ominous question that nobody claims to know the answer to. Well, I am surer that everyone develops their own ‘meaning of life’ throughout their time on Earth, but universally, I believe to the bottom of my soul, that we have been put on this Earth to love one another and to serve others. If not serving others in the name of God (for the non-religious), then just to serve others and love all things/life before us.

Since I believe, with what I feel is sound evidence, that we have ONE God, ONE Creator, ONE Savior, ONE Messiah, etc. I am going to go off on my own little tangent about Him calling us to serve others in His Name. Galatians 5:13 “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” is probably my favorite verse regarding love and serving one another. In my study bible, I have it noted that Jesus preached about love at least thirteen times during his life. Love is the reason that He gave His life for us!  There is a reason that He is called Son of Man. It is because His life was the true beginning of life as we all know it. His Sacrifice allows us to have life.  This is why I wish that no young men, my brother and all other young men did not enlist in any branch of the military. I feel that there are far too many accidents.

One of the girls from my high school had a brother die in a military training accident while us girls were in Middle School or at least in that time frame of our lives. My dear little hometown was heartbroken over his family’s loss. On Memorial Day, while I still lived in town, the police officers would put up little signs on the lamp posts with a picture and his name on it in honor of his service to our country. To some extent, I think that my town is very nice in trying to remember his service, but I feel that his family is tired of being reminded that they lost their son.

I fear that my family will go through the same pains if my baby brother joins the army. I know that I couldn’t handle it. I am just so afraid that my younger sisters also could not handle it. Our family would be a mess. Unfortunately, my brother, like my father and his father, is very stubborn and not to be reasoned with. So, once he decides to enlist, he will enlist. Well, I just pray that God protects my baby brother. He holds this family together, as the only son (only brother) in the family of four children.

With that, I would like to pray for the families of all active duty, deceased and future military members. May the Lord be with all active duty military members.

God Bless you all. ❤

~Alexandra ❤

Let’s Start Watching CNN!

DISCLAMER: I VOICE MY OPINIONS IN THIS POST, PLEASE DO NOT BE OFFENDED BY ANYTHING THAT I SAY. I DESIRE NOT TO BE HELD ACOUNTABLE FOR ANYTHING I VOICE THAT IS UNTRUE. THESE ARE MY CONVICTIONS.

Hello, all. 🙂

Today, the day before Memorial Day, I am watching Fox news. Fox news is no good in comparison to CNN. Fox News is biased towards politics, which I don’t really care about. I want nothing to do with Hillary Clinton’s dirty underwear. I want to hear more about the equal rights for homosexual marriage in Ireland, not about junk that she (or her ‘people’) talked about regarding something in the past. Our news and medias ought to focus on future actions and the betterment of our country. I do not like Hillary Clinton. She is of the past. The Bush ‘dynasty’ (CNN) is over. The Clinton ‘dynasty’ is not going to happen. She annoys the heck out of me because she is so focused on something that happened in the past.

Marco Rubio has the right idea on this matter. He will not even mention anything that the media has caught on to in the past, unless it is absolutely necessary, because the past is (or should be) irrelevant to the future of our nation. Rubio talks about different things that he will improve on our blessed soil and not mistakes of the past, so there is absolutely no reason that we should ignore him and talk about something Hillary did (or did not do) in the past. To me, Hillary is not even worth talking about when looking for a person to lead this beautiful nation, she is too stuck in the past. We need someone with an image of how the future of our beautiful country should be, not worries about the past of our country. I am sick of Hillary Clinton. I think that I will disown my county if she is elected.

Moving to France has always been a dream of mine. That would just make it excusable. 😉 Well . . . At least I think it would give me an excuse to leave America for a few years. I would come back after she gets thrown out, which is sure to happen. But, I’m done with Clinton. Now, I will focus more on Rubio. According to powerlineblog.com “Mr. Gelber praised Mr. Rubio’s ability to use his family’s story to convey compassion for people marginalized by society, but he said he believed, as many Democrats do, that this was disingenuous.” even the democrats can’t help but admire him and support this Republican candidate. He is young, 42 years old, as opposed to Clinton, who will be 69 a mere two weeks before the elections take place. To me, having a young, sharp dressed man in office would be good for our nation. England has had a queen since time began, and they are not truly worth mentioning. So, France comes in on the important countries after England, with their incredible European-esque  attitude towards government. They elected Sarkozy, who was a leader much like Rubio in the fact that he genuinely cared for the people he governed.

Rubio might also be compared to former POTUS  John Kennedy, as seen in a column by Charles Krauthammer ; (<http://dailycaller.com/2015/04/10/krauthammer-marco-rubio-has-chance-to-be-next-jfk/&gt;) and Jennifer Rubin of Washinton Post writes “Like JFK, Rubio is an internationalist who sees America as the preeminent power with obligations and interests in distant places. Like JFK (“If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich”), Rubio holds that freedom is the key to prosperity and focuses on regaining the American dream for those who have not already made it.” proving that Rubio is the change that our country needs. He represents the future of America. Rubio represents the “American Dream” because his parents are Cuban immigrants and came to America, making it possible for Marco to become POTUS. I believe, undoubtedly with opposition, that Rubio stands for what America craves in the coming years.

All that I am saying is that we really should stop looking back to leaders (or their wives) of the past.  I believe that Marco Rubio’s dream for America should be the dream of all people. I feel that in the coming months, we will hear a lot more from Rubio, and I pray that the people of these blessed lands listen to him, and elect him into office. I believe that his ‘inexperience’ in the political seat is all the more reason to elect him! He has not been corrupted by being in a position of power for almost twenty years, therefore he has a more modern perspective from which to govern and decide on vitally important matters, such as international affairs.  All of you readers, who are over the age of eighteen, please look deeply into Marco Rubio as a presidential candidate. I believe that he is just right for office.

Oh, and Fox News is lame next to CNN (in my humble opinion) just to tie it back to the title of this post. Fox is too Republican, too biased for me. I am registered as Democrat, but I truly do not associate with any party at all. I just hope and pray that America does the right thing and elects someone fresh and new into office. Someone like Marco Rubio. 😉

With all of that political jargon and junk, I leave you to ponder: Will a new face or an old name be better for American politics next year?

All of my love,
~Alexandra

“Today is a Day”

Hello, everyone!

Today’s the day before Memorial Day, but I still choose to honor veterans, active duty members,  and all other military personnel today. I think that along with recent riots and public outcries, the military personnel and policemen of this great nation have taken a severe hit to their sense of accomplishment and their sense of pride in the work that they do.

I think that what most of these angry people don’t realize is that the a large number of them would probably not be alive if these honorable men and women had not been doing their jobs correctly. I mean, sure there are a few that are corrupt and endangering the career choices of others. That goes with every career and group of people. Most of the police men and women along with the majority of military personnel have good intentions and sincerely want to protect the public.

I don’t personally know any police officers in the area that I live in, but I do have several friends who are in a branch of the armed forces. My Marine friends and even my friends in the Army are very respectful of women, all creeds of other human beings and have a genuine appreciation for life in general. My parents know a State Trooper in Pennsylvania and they have always spoken of him in the highest regard for my whole life.

Personally, I respect police officers, even through all of the tumultuous events involving their career, they have remained true to their honor code, and ‘stuck by the sword’ that is involved with fighting crime and terror in the parts of the nation in which they are assigned to be on watch for.  In fact, I love policemen. They unquestioningly serve. They do not stop and make sure that they will not be hurt, or even killed, before they step out in front of a bullet for a citizen. They think of themselves only after they have done their duty for the day. The men and women in the police forces are owed a great deal of respect from the citizens of our nation. One police officer, a woman, who was recently murdered, was described as an angel. She volunteered in the community countless times and continually served the people of her community day in, and day out. She was killed on the way to pick up her premature baby from the hospital, after she had taken time away from her baby to serve the people of her town. She worked while her baby was being nursed and cared for by doctors and nurses until her baby was ready to go home with her. Her poor little innocent child no longer has a mother to care for her, and will never understand that her mother was one of the best women to wear a vest in the line of duty. (CNN)

My heart aches for her child. My heart aches for the people of her town, which lost their “angelic” police officer.

The quote is from a speech given to “our great nation” on December 7th, in 1941 by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who just happens to be one of my favorite leaders that this great nation has ever seen. My very favorite POTUS ever was Kennedy, not just because he is the best looking of all of our presidents. He was also a fantastic leader because in the few years he was alive during his presidency, John Franklin Kennedy established the Peace Corps., which I am a humongous fan of. Peace Corps. is like a form of the United Nations in that is focuses on serving the people of less fortunate nations. I have considered joining Peace Corps. on many occasions, because that is the reason that I live!

I live to serve other people in the name of the Lord! ❤ Sincerely, I believe that I was not kept alive only to tell my story and inspire others, rather I was kept alive to do that and to serve others for my King of all nations! Contrary to what my parents may tell you, I think that I am merely alive to improve and/or save the lives of other people. I am finishing my degree, making some money and joining Peace Corps. Who knows, I might even work a missionary trip through a Christian church organization!

All that I am sure of is that I exist to please my Lord, for He (literally) saved my life! ❤ I exist to please Him by pleasing others. As of now, I am only seeking my degree because (according to my Mother) statics have shown that young adults with a degree are more likely to receive a job, with paid benefits (my mothers deepest desire is for all of her four children to get a job with paid benefits) which would please her and it would please me too, but that is secondary to pleasing my Momma. I also seek a degree, to seek a job to provide financial security so that I may volunteer my time and money (hopefully) to those who need it. Once I get my dream job (available to unqualified personnel already) or working online for a publishing company or an environmentally friendly company/organization,  I will probably just work from my parents’ home and gain a nice little bank fund, I guess you could call it, as I work toward physical and mental fitness.

I am pretty physically in shape, I just have some muscles that haven’t ben exercised for too long and a few  brain functions that could be improved upon, but that will all come with time. I’m young, only twenty-two years! 😉 So, I’ve got another 40-60 years left in this little body of mine. Needless to say, I don’t worry too much about the worldly things in this life. I have a better life coming after this one. But, I’m not in a rush to get there!!

I have serving to do down here on Earth first!

So, Today might not be December 7th, but it is a day that I feel needs to be spent serving others, as our men and women in uniform all around the nation and world do on a daily basis. So, until next time, stay safe, save the police officers the disturbance. Oh! Also, serve others!! That is why we all exist, anyway! ❤

My sincere love and admiration,

~Alexandra Mae Mullen

Five Years Ago, Tonight

Hello Everyone!! 🙂

Today, May 22, was the day of my high school promenade after which I received a catastrophic brain injury after having what was supposedly the ‘best time’ of my life five years ago in 2010. But I don’t want to sound pitiful of myself.

I have become stronger, better because of all of the events that God brought me through. Plus, I have an incredible reason to celebrate every moment of any life, especially my own.

Had the accident not happened, I would be much more intelligent, much more witty, much more financially savvy, much more sociable, much more everything good. However, what I would not be as religious as I am now, I would not be as thankful to God for my life, or as trusting of Him with my life, I would not be as kind to others, or as compassionate to those less fortunate than I. I would not be where I am in life if I hadn’t had the blessed struggle of recovering from the catastrophic brain injury.

That seems dichotomous, “blessed struggle”, doesn’t it? Well, it is. But I have learned to take the unexpected things with grace. I make plans, and I busy myself down here on Earth. But, only He decides what will go on in my daily life. I may be saying things that most of you already know about life. But, for me, these ‘lessons’ if you will, came to me in a very different way than just ‘common sense’. My brain injury has been a struggle, an enormous struggle, to deal with, but it is a blessing because it has caused me struggle in my life. I am having a hard time phrasing these words right now, in fact. I don’t know how to say what I mean. This happens to me very often. I do not think of it as a bad thing, necessarily, I am just forced to slow down and go about life in a more relaxed mind-state. It has been a blessing, and a struggle for me to deal with for these last beautiful five years of my life. I am much closer with my parents because of the traumatic-catastrophic brain injury. I am much closer with people that some may consider “older”. I go about life much more gently than I once did. I have a strange aura about me, because I have been literally touched by God. I have a more servant view of how to treat the Earth.

I am more compassionate to animals that are struggling.  I am far less cynical of people who have had a ‘harsh’ upbringing and struggle now with seeing how others perceive them. I am much more understanding of everyone. I am less judgmental, though there are many who probably assume the worst in me. I assume the best in every situation, every person. I have a smile and open arms for everyone at all times. I have grown to love giving and receiving hugs. I have become quite (unprofessionally) skilled at massaging others. I like to think that I help people to slow down and enjoy more of life than we stress away.  This is one area, one change in my life that I am extremely thankful for. I was taught to slow down and breathe, slow down and count my blessings. I was taught to appreciate more of life than I dared to be stressed about. I was essentially taught to be European. :p

I have a new perspective on life that I feel (I hope) shows others how to more fully live life. I want to tell everyone on Wall Street or in any city that as much as we try to hurry through life, only One, our Divine Creator, decides how fast we can go through life. So, there really is no point to ‘the hurry’ that we often put ourselves in. I must admit, I am guilty of this, as well. Sometimes, I get all caught up in my studies and am gently reminded that I need to slow down and be more aware of the blessing that surround me. Usually that reminder is a slip onto my bum from walking too fast or from ice on the ground. I find that as long as I notice when my heart rate goes up and appears to be beating out of my veins for no reason at all, I can avoid injury and remain in good health and good spirits. 🙂

I must admit, this new perspective on life is very positive. However, one negative aspect of the new perspective that I have is that I feel like I have all of the rime in the world to do assignments and other obligated tasks. Because I feel that way, I procrastinate. Ideally, I want to get all of my work done a few days after the assignment has been given, but I have not done that. I will need to attempt this next semester when I have three English courses and two French courses, all of which being extremely demanding. One of my English courses evaluates the Bible as Literature. I really look forward to that course, my advisor is the instructor for the class. Another of the classes that I look forward to is French Phonetics.  That course is about learning how to properly pronounce words in the French language.

The negative aspect is that I give myself too much work. Next semester is the semester where I will not be able to do anything that could be considered ‘extracurricular’ or superfluous to my education. So, no partying, not that I would anyway. No dating, not that I would anyway. No going home, which really sucks because I love seeing my family sometimes. Except for during holidays. Then I will go home and spend time with my family. Over holidays, I will be able to see some friends as well. 🙂  I love having the ability to set aside time that is distinctly for my friends. My family gets holidays with me. My colleagues get weekends, perhaps, but my friends get all of the other time. ❤

Five years ago tonight, my life flashed before my eyes and I was given this new perspective on life. Because of my new perspective on life, I am able to appreciate ‘the little things’ more fully and completely. I hope to give that appreciation to others in life, as I age and my body begins to fit my mind’s state. I am going to publish ‘my story’ into a book within the next five years. So look out for my book From Deep Within.

With all of that, I leave you to think about why you bother rushing. Slow down, appreciate more of life.

As always, God Bless,

~Alexandra Mae ❤

Increasing Sanity

Hello, everyone! 🙂

Today, I would like to mention (in greater detail than merely mentioning it) how much better I feel about life because I made my room tidy again. I still had about 30-40 sweaters and other long sleeved shirts from the insufferably long winter that my region of the world experienced in the last six or seven months.

I am going home tomorrow and I am finally putting an end to the clutter that those shirts and sweaters were causing my very tiny little 13 ft. X 20 ft. room.  I live in a cubicle with a full but tiny bathroom attached. Literally, my bathroom is about 4 ft. X 5 ft.

Tomorrow, once I get home, I swill be on my computer filling out application/resume letters for two possible employers.  The one employer is reeeeeeeally enticing to me. It’s a company that works to improve the blue and green world that surrounds us. I love all things madeunder the Lord’s creation, and it is something that I am extremely passionate about. The possibility of working to reserve more of the Earth’s beautiful natural state gives me goosebumps and makes me feel like I would be doing the right thing with my life. I can definitely see myself doing that job for a good portion of my adult life, until I am at least 30 years old. then moving onto working for a translating organization regarding the beautiful French language. ❤ I will have to see what comes of my passion-filled application to the environment-friendly company 🙂

The other of the two replies I got to my applications was for a company that wants me to read books and provide brief analyses of the books.  I think that I will immensely enjoy both of these jobs. So, if possible, I will take both jobs and try to manage both with my summer.  Then I will cut back and do the ‘eco-friendly’ job full time and the ‘book reading job’ as a part time job. That way, I can make a lot of money and do what I am passionate about, care for the environment and read books.

I am listening to an interview for the ‘book reviewing’ company and I’m having a hard time focusing on writing my blog because I am also texting my parents about the jobs I am writing about in this blog post. 😉 The interview is hard to follow because the questions are not heard, the recording only includes this Graham Allcott’s answers. He randomly laughs after awkward silences in the interview, making the interview extremely challenging to listen to.

When he gets involved while talking about a topic, it’s easier to follow what he’s talking about how to be more productive at work. He talked about important things to do in the mornings, important things to do to accomplish goals day-by-day, and weekly. One way I do his is by blogging. Additionally, I write in my Jesus Journal  in the morning and at night. Those two actions help me to organize my intentions for the day. Watch this, I will give an example right here:

Tomorrow morning, I am going to get up early and go to the gym, then I am going to shower and go into town. Once I go to town, I am going to Fog & Flame, a local café, to have some brunch before I come back to my apartment and organize some more of my belongings to go home for the week. I will then write in my journal for a few hours until my mother picks me up to go home. 😉 I might even get a blog post in before I go home!! 🙂

I love being home. 🙂 I just feel so welcomed there. My baby sister Erin hugs me whenever I ask her to, and for those of you who know me, hugging is an extremely important part of who I am. Hugs always make anything/everything better. 🙂

On that note, I’m going to call it a night and see the computer screen to do some more researching about possible/hopeful jobs tomorrow! ❤

Au revoir!

God Bless

~Alexandra Mae