heaven.

today i found out an old friend of mine from college died after a long battle with cancer. 

he was my age. 

and he was one of the greatest, kindest, friendliest guys i have ever known. 

im not just saying that because he's passed, it's the actual truth.

i've been crying all day. 

these last few years since college we haven't been in touch except for the random comments and quick catch up messages on facebook, but it never failed that whenever i heard from him, it brought a smile to my face.

he was eternally optimistic about his future, and never gave up hope of a recovery. 

today, as the news of his death reached our college network, and people who knew him back home, near my own hometown, the sadness everyone felt about losing him was evident. 

so tonight i'd like to ask you all to do this...

be thankful for your lives, for your health, and for the possibilities of the future ahead of you. 

do not take one second of it for granted, live your life to the fullest, enjoy every second of it.

 reach out to people you may have lost touch with, let them know youre thinking of them, let the people in your life know you love them and appreciate them. 

...appreciate everything.

everyone who had the privilege of knowing you was the better for it James. 

may you rest peacefully now and watch over us, xo

today i had a thought..what if i had never met you?

today i had a thought...what if i had never met you?

on wednesday it was the seven year anniversary of my sorority initiation.

seven years?!

time flies when you're busy being awesome.

anyway, I had two pledge sisters, we started out with way more but i ended up with just two at the end.

i thought we would be best friends forever, not out of obligation or anything

but genuinely because i loved them both like sisters, and they were my best friends by choice.

now seven years later, two of us don't speak to the third.

we had a falling out and she basically broke up with us.

anyway that's not my point here.

neither is the whole sorority aspect of where my story came from...

my point is this..seven years is a crazy long time, but in the grand scheme of things it's really not.

it's just a few years of your life.

but for me, in those seven years i've met some of the greatest friends i've ever known.

friends who come and go in my life, but always pick up again like time hasn't passed.

friends who know me better than people i've known my entire life.

friends that i can't imagine never having met.

these last seven years have been the years that shaped the life i have now, the person i am now.

and i tend to think that my life would be so very different had i chosen to go left instead of right,

stayed home for school instead of going away, go to bed early instead of staying out late, so many other factors.

every choice i made in the last seven years led me to people who have changed my life.

so thank you lovebugs, if you have been a part of my life these last few years, big or small.

if youre still here, or have left my life for whatever reason.

and here's hoping these next seven years bring even more wonderful people into my life--

 to change me for the better, help me grow and continue to push and inspire me to achieve every dream i've ever had

with a heart full of hope & a mind full of dreams

Sarah