Today I am feeling extremely stressed out and pressed for time. I have two job opportunities this summer, one being to babysit for two children, and one to be a receptionist for a salon. They are both three days a week. However, one is 9 hour days (so, 27 hours a week) and one is only 17 hours a week. So, obviously the one with more hours is twice the money. However, the better paying one is much less enjoyable for my situation right now. I have been doing the same job for two years straight and I want a change. I want a new and exciting opportunity and I do not know what to do. I have to decide by the end of the week which job I will accept. I am scared that I am going to make the wrong decision. I do not want to pick one, end up regretting it, and then losing the other opportunity. It is essentially choosing between a job I love, or more money. There is something to the saying “money isn’t everything,” however, it is extremely important when you have college to pay for in just a few short months. My mind is running in circles and I don’t know what to do! What would you guys suggest? Take the job that is more money, but more stressful and the same job you have had for two years? Or the job that you would make less money at, but would be so thrilled to have? I would love comments & advice!
The shortest, but most moving two sentences.
“They say it’s better to have loved and lost, than never loved at all.”
“So, what’s his name?”
Cute 5 minute break from your day :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9HlHmY-PsA this video made me smile & I found it so interesting that makeup can do this much, completely add 70+ years to someone’s appearance?!
Who Am I?
Hannah
silly, adventurous, easily distracted, talkative, sometimes silent, happy
Daughter of Lawrence and Colleen Arnold
Lover of Netflix, chocolate, and dogs
Who feels busier than a bee, confident in who she is (most of the time),
and committed to her passions
Who fears germs, losing loved ones, and being trapped
in small tight spaces
Who needs more than 24 hours in a day, coffee that does not stain your teeth,
and more positivity through hard times
Who gives a friendly smile, advice when it is asked for,
and a prayer for anyone who needs it
Who would like to see herself succeed in life, have a job that she loves,
and a life that is well worth living
Resident of Michigan
Arnold
Gone
Love
The most powerful of emotions
Has the ability to make someone the happiest, or saddest
they have ever been.
Obsession
Now they can’t breathe without their lover’s touch.
Day and night is spent thinking about where they are,
what they’re doing,
who they’re with.
Jealousy
An evil green monster that becomes a disease to your soul
Take over your thoughts, and spreads through your body like vines over an abandoned
building.
Gone
Red burning faces, stained with tears so thick they could soak through the pavement
Too young to handle the harsh cruel reality of a love gone wrong.
Now, just gone.
Anna
It’s funny how you can hear a song a bunch of times, and never have it mean anything to you. Then, one day, you hear it on the radio and you relate to it and that song has changed you forever. For me, that happened last year around this time of year, almost to the date. My best friend since childhood is more like a sister to me than a friend. Her entire family has become my family over the years. She has two younger siblings, and an older brother in his twenties. Every summer since we were in the second grade, we go camping up north together. Two years ago, Doug (the older brother in his twenties) brought a girl with him. We were ecstatic. Doug has never been much of a ladies man, to say the least. Between his love for video games, and his participating in a chess club, his nerdy personality is something that we have always loved about him. Girls, on the other hand, don’t always see past his chubby outer appearance. This time however, he found Anna. Anna was different than the girls who laughed at him in high school. Anna saw Doug for who he really is, a huge teddy-bear. The best part was, Anna was just as much of a nerd as Doug was. She too enjoyed chess and video games and had weird quirks of her own. They dated and stayed together for a little over two years. Then, randomly my phone lit up with my best friend’s name across it. I answered expecting her wanting to chat about random and trivial things like usual. Instead, she was crying. “Anna killed herself.” I froze. My heart sunk. Anna Anna? Doug’s girlfriend? How could that be possible? She always seemed so happy!
Come to find out, she had struggled with bipolar disorder and depression all her life. Since she was a little girl, she had been in and out of mental hospitals seeking help after her attacks. Doug spoke to us with watery eyes and a low tone at the funeral. He said that in the winter months, she felt herself getting bad again so she admitted herself into the hospital one last time. She stayed there for two long months and Doug visited as much as he could. There, the doctors and professionals deemed her “stable” again and allowed her to go home. By April, she was in her apartment and texted Doug, “I’m sorry Doug. I love you so much. This is not your fault. The voices won’t stop.” And when he called she did not answer.
James Taylor has a song called “Fire and Rain” about a friend of his back home who committed suicide while he was on tour. The chorus says, “I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain. I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end. I’ve seen lonely times when I could not find a friend. But I always thought that I’d see you again.”
I heard this song on the radio, a few days after Anna’s funeral. My heart sunk as I listened to the words and understood them for the first time.
I think Doug always thought that he would see Anna again. And, I really hope that he does. Although it won’t be how he imagined so, I hope that someday he will be with her in Heaven and there will be no more sadness. He will get to know an Anna that hears no voices, and has no demons anymore. They will be reunited to live together, this time a real happily ever after.
Book Review
Nights in Rodanthe by Nicholas Sparks is a read that has the power to soften hearts that have turned to stone because of a love gone wrong. This romantic novel follows Adrienne Willis, a divorced mother of three children living in North Carolina. When her husband leaves her for a younger woman, she feels defeated. Then, a love comes into her life when she would least expect it. She keeps a part of her life a secret for good reasons. However, when her daughter Amanda becomes depressed from the death of her husband, things change. Adrienne feels as though Amanda does not believe that they could ever relate. This is when Adrienne decides to sit her daughter down and tell her the secret she has kept for years from almost everyone; her encounter with Paul Flanner.
Paul Flanner is, like Adrienne, a divorced parent. The difference is that he feels very much responsible for the fall out of his marriage. As a retired surgeon, he believes now that he worked too much and possibly “worked his life away.” Adrienne heads to Rodanthe for the weekend when her close friend that owns an Inn needs to leave town. Adrienne agrees to help her friend out, but never expects what would come next. The Inn has one guest for the weekend, it being Paul Flanner of course. They bond over the course of a few days, learning from each other, and almost healing up each other’s wounds. They unfold a romance that seems fairytale like to anyone else. When the weekend comes to an end, they realize they both have to go back to their separate lives that they came from. What they decide to do for their love and genuine care about each other’s best interest is a hard decision. And one that won’t let you put the book down.
This beautifully written book captures the real struggles of life and love. It is romantic and intimate, without feeling cheesy. It does not feel fake, and it incorporates the loves of a lover, a friend, and a parent/child. As it switches back and forth from present to the past, the reader will most likely laugh, cry, and ponder. I give this book 4.5 stars and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a romantic novel. Sparks did not disappoint with this heart tugging read.
For My People
This is for my people
who are the teenagers of America
who are considered children and adults at the same time.
Expected to work 20 hours a week
While going to school 7 hours a day, and maintaining a good GPA
Along with staying active,
and keeping up on personal hygiene.
Don’t forget 8 hours of sleep a night
While keeping good relationships with friends, family,
and your boyfriend/girlfriend.
How are we supposed to do it all?
Going to parties, fighting with our parents
Football games, going out to eat, school dances,
spring break, junk food,
we want it all.
Lulu lemon, Nike, Hunters, Victoria’s Secret.
Fake nails, fake tan, dyed hair.
Made up girls, ten pounds of makeup
Who is dressed the best?
For my people that need to know something;
We are almost done with this.
We are on our way to something bigger and better
than anything we are leaving behind.
Let us never forget this time in our life,
where we shared all the same pressures.
It gets better, my people.
That won’t be me
From the time you are young they ask you “What are you gonna be when you grow up?”
It’s an easy question when you are six. You might say, “A princess!” or “A super hero!” or “a Race-car driver/ Chef!”
A few years pass and you are eleven now, “A veterinarian, because I love animals!” or “A doctor, I want to help sick people.”
There are so many choices for so many young years, before you give stress, money, and college a single thought.
An artist, a surgeon, a pilot, a movie star, a teacher, a photographer, a lawyer, a singer, a dentist, an ice cream truck driver, a pastor, a nurse, a mechanic. Anything you want to be. Why should it be any harder than that?
I miss those days because my answer was thoughtless and easy, without any hesitation. It did not leave my head spinning or my thoughts running wild
Now, it does. Now, what you “want to be” is the last thing that actually matters. What will make the most money? How long will you have to go to college? What school offers that degree? Is that career high in demand? Could you find a job in Michigan? Do you mind moving yourself across the country, away from your family? Is it okay with you that you will have to work nights, 5 days a week, for the first 5 years of your job?
I hate that nothing can be easy about careers now, you have to think about what is the most sensible career for your needs and if it doesn’t pay well enough, your life is going to suck outside of work. You have to work 9-5 five days a week to barely make end’s meet. I want to travel. I want to have a job that makes me happy and I do not dread waking up for.
I do not want to walk into my house at 45 years old, to my kids already in bed when I haven’t had a real conversation with them in three weeks. I do not want to spend my entire life in an office that I am unhappy going too, just because it adds another zero to my paycheck at the end of the month. I do not want to miss out on my life because I worked it away.
growingoldvsgrowingup 