some reiterations some changes.

I WANT TO BE HAPPY.

I want to always have the capacity to love other people.
I want to write. A lot.
I want to be a publisher.
I want to sing a the top of my lungs.
I want to car-dance and have people give me funny looks.
I want to look at the stars.
I want to go to Africa and save people. Live and be with them.
I want to own a restaurant where I serve only natural foods.
I want to live efficiently in a house that I built and that uses only solar power.
I want to live close to my best friends.
I want to never be without them, even if they do live far away.
I want to own a pair of Sperry Duck shoes.
I want to be able to be in nature whenever I want to, whether that's hiking or camping or simply sitting under a tree.
I want life to make sense to me.
I want to run in a field and pick wildflowers and lay under the afternoon sun.
I want long hair again.
I want to be in Richmond, VA.
I want to be in Chattanooga, TN.
I want to be Ireland.
I want to be in NYC.
I want to be able to travel many places before I die.
I want equal rights for everyone.
I want to meet Nelson Mandela.
I want to stay up all night laughing and smiling with people I love.
I want to sleep all day and watch movies and eat popcorn all night.
I want to get caught outside in the rain.
I want to hold your hand.
I want your face close to mine.
I want to be able to tell you everything. Everything I feel about you, everything I see in you, everything you are to me.
I want to smile all the time.
I want you to smile all the time with me.
I want to laugh until I cry.
I want to feel love like I've never felt it before.
I want to scream so loud China can hear me.
I never want to be numb. I always want to feel no matter what, even if it's pain.
I want to feel butterflies.
I want to hold butterflies in my hands.
I want to be wanted.
I want to be needed.
I want to run on a beach and run into the water and feel it on my face.
I want my parents to live forever. I know they won't. They will in my heart.
I want to see every movie ever made.
I want to believe everyone has the capacity to believe in peace and that everyone has the capacity to make peace happen through love.
I want to save the Earth. It's so beautiful.
I want my dog to always sleep on the bed with me. I feel alone without him there.
I want to eat granola and fruit all the time.
I want to speak Spanish fluently.
I want to love myself more.
I want to love other people more.
I never want to be without God.
I want to tell everyone my story.
I want to wear shorts and a t-shirt and no shoes in my wedding. And I want to get married on the side of a hill somewhere.
I want to believe that I can accomplish anything I set my heart to.
I want my best friend to know that I still love her.
I want to be happy.
I want to be happy.

I'm standing in the aftermath of an earthquake, sure to be followed by tremors along my pathway of life. The earthquake shook my inner being--but, I'm glad for the movement. Standing here on the other side, I'm not waiting for the tremors--I'll deal with them when I need to--but rather I'm setting up shop on the other side of the fault line, and I've realized how long this has been due.

And, I'm glad it's over.

My life as a Law and Order episode.

Ladies and gentlemen of the Jury: have you reached a verdict?
--We have Your Honor.
How do you find?
--We find the defendant, Sarah Countryman's former best friend, guilty of cheating in the first degree.

Her sentence will be loss of boyfriend and loss of best friend--indefinitely.
Her release will be when she decides to grow up and act like a 22 year old woman, rather than a 12 year old girl.

The star witness Sarah Countryman wanted the ladies and gentlemen of the court to know that, while she has forgiven the defendant it is quite possible that she will never speak to her again--and also feels it necessary to apologize for being the star witness, but reports that it was best for all parties involved.

things are good from where i stand.

happiness becomes me.

=].

oh, homework.

This weekend has been wonderful. =].

Now it's on to the large amount of homework that must be accomplished.

But, first... this poem.

I wish I could run away to somewhere lovely
With large fields and lots of flowers
And fresh air and a breeze.
I wish you would come with me there,
So we could skip around and dance,
And lie in the grass and stare at the clouds.
The morning rain would fall on our heads,
We could feel it on our faces and on our skin.
We would dry out in the warm afternoon sun,
And feel the wind rush by us,
Making beautiful music in the air.
We'd wait 'til nightfall and then stare at the stars,
The beauty emanating from the sky--
Stealing the breath from even the hardest of hearts.
And then we would collapse in wonderful exhaustion,
From a day well spent,
Wrapped up in each other's souls.