Remember your first day of school? You walk in the doors and immediately your head begins bouncing and twisting like a bobble head attached to the dash of a cheap taxi. If you got lucky you'd find somebody and with the determination of a bull charging its target you put your head down and move. Nothing else mattered; you had to gather your emotions under the umbrella provided only by a familiar face. Once within verbal range of your shield school wasn't so bad. Until the bell for class rung, and it all began again.
Today I felt like I had just walked into a brand new school in a brand new city where no one knows my name (or at least how I would image that would feel since I never moved as a kid). My outlook on the day had changed. I was no longer apathetic to the strangers around me even though they were to me. I looked for opportunities to say hi, but none arose (i.e. I was too afraid and I knew it). I read my book at lunch in the cafeteria deciding which of the 25 or so lone diners I could talk to, but incapacitated by fear did nothing. It wasn't until a quick soda run I decided to go for it.
I met Ramon at the journal desk in the university library. It was an easy trap; after all it's his job to talk, right. Ramon stands about 6'2" and at first sight I thought he was Arabic, but I quickly found out he's from the Dominican Republic (you know what they say about assumptions; I'll have to work on that). He came here on a scholarship and actually said that he is looking forward to the snow. He has a grandma in Boston, but the rest of his family is still in the Dominican. I found out that his father spent some time in Venezuela, but I never found out why. He is working on his MBA and was actually not disgusted when I told him I was a statistician. I wish I would have spent more time with Ramon, but I became nervous of occupying too much of his time. I'll stop by another day and continue our conversation, because I might want to get some good tips for the next time I travel to his home country.
Craziness: As I was looking for my project guess who's I found? My Mom's Masters thesis from 1970. It was very surreal.
I Love, Love what you are doing. I don't think I have ever been so proud of you. I know this is something that takes a lot of effort and desire to change. Caring about someone else and be interested in who that person is a gift from God, you have it! I love everything that I am seeing from you. There is beautiful new person is emerging from and already amazing person. It is so exciting seeing you change, after all change is not that hard we just have to do it! I love It, I am going to change something about myself that I don't like starting today. Thanks for being such a outstanding example.
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