People and Lessons

Today I turned 31.  What was I doing when I turned 31?  Staying on at work a little longer so that a new friend could have a drink.  I was taking care of someone else.  Someone I just met.  10 years ago I was so lost.  I knew who I was but I was trying so hard to be someone else.  Someone I thought I was supposed to be, someone I had to be.  What I hadn't realized yet is how amazing the person I AM is.  I am a person who takes others wants and needs and makes them paramount.  A person who knows and is secure in who I am.  A person with morals and values.  A person that people WANT in their life.  A person with so much love in his life that at times it is almost to much for his heart to bear.  How I spent so long not knowing the value of those things truly baffles me.  I guess it is because I hadn't met the people who reflected who I am back at me yet.  I hadn't met my teachers and learned my lessons yet.  This life is full of teachers and we meet them as we need to.  Every situation, every relationship, good or bad, is nothing more than a lesson.  As I sit here thumbing through the textbook of my life I know there are many more chapters to be written, many more lessons to be learned, and many more teachers yet to come.  There will be exams, pop quizzes, homework assignments, and finals.  There will be shining moments where I am the star pupil.  There will be moments when I want to slam the book shut and retreat into a dark corner.  The hardest part is over though.  I know who I am.  I know what I am capable of.  I know what I deserve.  As long as we all have that within ourselves.....one day...we'll get it.  One day...we'll find our home base...and we'll be safe at last.