Mary Alice ;)

In life we all make plans, but sometimes they don't turn out the way we expected. By trying to help out, we may damage a relationship. By attempting to reach out, we may push someone further away. By digging into the past, we may enrich our present.


When we see an opportunity in life, we have to take it. Whether it's the hope of winning back the love of our life, a shot at proving our worth, or the chance to show a child the right path, but sometimes when we answer the call we have no idea what opportunity awaits us.

It isn't easy giving up power admitting that we might need help from friends and neighbors, deciding that a loved one might know what's best for us, giving up our better judgment for a slightly darker agenda, but for some the hardest kind of power to give up is the power to control their own desires.

Good friends are the ones who tell us the truth about ourselves... even when the truth might be something we're reluctant to admit - that we still have a great deal to learn, that we sometimes need to ask for help, that we maybe overlooking a golden opportunity. Yes, hearing the truth can often set us on a different path, but we never know where that path might take us or who might be watching.


There comes a time when we must expose our weaknesses. When our secrets can no longer remain private, when our solitude can no longer be denied, when our pain can no longer be ignored, but sometimes we feel so alone that a weaknesses we thought we'd overcome suddenly becomes too long to fight.


Love can bring out the best in us... the confidence to move on, the courage to tell the truth, the strength to keep hoping, but sometimes what surprises us the most isn't what love brings out but who it brings back.

We may think we're all destined to play certain roles, but sometimes those roles can unexpectedly change: a nervous student may discover a hidden confidence; a long time wife may confront a harsh reality; a busy mother may find her attention needed elsewhere; and a woman who wanted to do a little bit of good may be finding herself playing a much bigger role than she intended.

We often learn our most important lessons outside the classroom. The painful truth about the state of a relationship, the ugly cost of challenging authority, the sad fact that life's colors aren't always rosy, then are those who refuse to accept these important lessons. They simply wait to teach a lesson of their own.