Things I've learned this year

Things I've learned this year:

• Don't follow Google Maps when it tells you to exit the highway during a blizzard because small country roads are going to be faster
• Just because you have the money to purchase all the sweets your heart desires doesn't mean you should do so
• Reading truly gives you another life (which is awesome when you're not too happy about the life your body is in)
• You don't necessarily get a notice about paying rent - you're just supposed to know and do
• Don't take the way people treat you personally - there's some overused saying about how people treat you says something about them, not you
• Choosing to laugh instead of cry will keep you sane, but choosing to cry sometimes will keep you human
• Used bookstores are places of magic
• Fried chicken is a food group
• Never buy holiday candy until after the holiday - if you wait long enough, it truly is Dirt Cheap
• I am loved beyond my imagination even when I don't feel it, and that is what matters
• Exercise might actually make you feel better
• Some places in this country freeze during the summer
• It is possible to be so in the middle of nowhere that there are no clear radio stations
• IHOP is not always open 24/7
• Stress actually affects your body
• Dancing to loud music with your husband can do a wonder to dispel said stress
• You need to take care of yourself, but balance is important
• America has more, and more serious, issues than I realized
• Take care not to become a cynic, but also take care not to fall apart - either direction paralyzes you
• People will mask their own cleverness to be accepted
• The Great Gatsby is actually a beautiful and wonderful book
• Cry, the Beloved Country is actually a beautiful and wonderful book
• --> Basically, reread the books you considered "meh" in high school, because your brain probably just hadn't progressed enough to fully appreciate them - not that we can ever really FULLY appreciate literature - but that's part of its greatness, that you can keep reading, keep discovering
• Teenagers' brains have not fully developed yet
• So be kind
• But always be kind anyways
• But at the same time, be mean
• --> Life is a balance
• Ecclesiastes
• You have to choose to be happy 
• Start the year strict. Start the year strict. Start the year strict.
• "...[P]eople will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel" - MA

Aaaand, because I shall always love Stephen Chbosky, and I'm rereading The Perks of Being a Wallflower, and sometimes I complain too much, and I'm having a brilliant summer:

"This one moment when you know you’re not a sad story. You are alive. And you stand up and see the lights on the buildings and everything that makes you wonder. And you’re listening to that song, and that drive with the people who you love most in this world. And in this moment, I swear, we are infinite."

Now I'm off to revel in my last week and a half of high summer.

Toodles,

Anneke

P.S. For all of you who asked, and I didn't know yet, or anyone else just interested - Next year I'll be teaching 2 sections of 10th grade English (so 4 hours/day) + tutoring 1 section of middle school (either ESL or English). Finding out I shall have less work than last year is definitely contributing to my lightheartedness :)

P.S.S. I've been raising money for my classroom library. I've reached $494 of my $540 goal and appreciate any support anyone still feels like giving! https://www.pledgecents.com/cause/yvvhdb/classroom-library


<3.