Baily-isms

1. Accept diversity
2. Get beyond the dissappointment
3. In all things, have confidence
4. Look at yourself from another persons shoes
5. Look at the world from another persons shoes
6. Put nothing before family, ever
7. Set goals
8. If you need help, ask for it
9. There's no such thing as 'regret' - you wanted whatever it was at the time. Just learn from it.
10. Seek the Lord
11. If you love someone, tell them
12. Learn to deal with fears, frustration, and anxiety - they're there, but you can control them.
13. Let the past affect the present and the present affect the future
14. Be spontaneous
15. Realize you win some, you lose some, and some get rained out
16. From the bottom, the only way to go is up
17. Have faith
18. Let your voice be heard - sometimes, let your actions be your voice
19. Give thanks to the people who made you who you are
20. Rock what you've got - do what you're capable of instead of wishing for something else.
21. Let it be
22. Don't compromise who you arel stay true to yourself
23. Don't hold back
24. Love and be loved
25. Respect yourself or no one else will

Peace. Love. Happiness.
-BJJ

Truth: Nothing's like 'Coming Home'

Sure, I've dreamt of being the gypsy type and going any place the wind blew. I've always thought what it would be like to not have expectations for yourself. That the quote "If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there" was an epitome of my life. But at the end of the day, sometimes there's nothing more than just wanting to be at home.

Luckily, two tanks of gas and one really boring drive, can get me there. Highway 231, Interstate 10, and Interstate 75 get me back to the one place where I know certainty. In an uncertain world, what is better than dinner cooked by Momma, deep conversation with Daddy, and finding Sister still prefers Sunday afternoon naps in your bedroom instead of her own? I got that certainty recently when I went home to Oviedo for a glimpse back at "what was" and realized it's still "what is".

Truth: Things change. But when you're at home, on your piece of ground, the changes don't seem to be bad. The safety net that you're surrounded by make change an easy thing to deal with and not an emotional breakdown that seems to come when you're on your own, being gypsy-esque.

What amazed me the most was what was discovered during the 2-day "Girls Beach Trip" to Jacksonville Beach. Twelve girls who all graduated together from Oviedo High School in 2005 got together and had one of the most amazing trips down memory lane during a time in our lives that we are violently being propelled into a whole new world full of adult decisions, adult jobs, and adult relationships. I took in those 48 hours and savored the feeling of being 17 again as I watched twelve very different girls with twelve very different lives become one again. It might not seem like such a mystery to you, but to me it was surreal because I've seen friends come in my life and quickly go and when I see them out in public they act as if they never knew me. I've had boys tell me I'm the most perfect girl they've ever met and spent every waking moment with them for months, and I see them now and they act as if I am a Jane Doe.

For us girls to get together and share the laughs, relive the countless sleepovers from our younger years, and make a scene every place we went, just as we did before we parted ways, I felt fortunate to have not roamed too far, and to remember the goodness of where my roots are.

And just as I believe that your family is who you choose it to be, your home is too. As we sat around sipping cocktails in Jacksonville and realizing this may be the last "hoo-ra" of our childhood, we all had mutual respect for one another. We'd all gone our separate ways, but we'd all respected "what was" and made it "what is" and it was at that very moment that I told myself I was never going to deny that little town east of Orlando, that Austin, Texas or San Francisco, California would never be to me what that place or those people are to me, and that wherever I roam, wherever the wind blows me, and whatever amount of "gypsy" I may have in my soul, it is all because of the friends, family, and heart of where I came from.

So that's who I am, a little bit of Asheville, a whole lot of Oviedo, added with a little bit of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. No matter if you like it or not, the places you've called home are what make you who you are. As I start making those big decisions and realizing I'm at the crossroads of childhood and adulthood, I know I will take a little piece of everywhere I've been with me to the next place, and if I ever question myself, start to stumble, or need a few days in a safety net, I know there's nothing like coming home.

And for those of us who never realize that, it's a shame.

Truth: We all have our roots, and we should give those roots, no matter how deep or just planted, the credit they deserve.

Welcome To My World

Hello! Some of you may follow my other blog - "Just Jones It: College Edition" - but you may not if you get sick of consistent praises to Alabama Football and North Carolina Basketball. So, this one won't be about sports, if I can help it.
I'm a student at The University of Alabama and I'm majoring in Early Child Development. My passion is working with children with special needs.
I'm a true believer that every life was made for a purpose and that every child deserves unconditional love. My life will be in pursuit of equality and non-discrimination for children with disabilities. I hope to one day adopt a baby born with Down syndrome. If any of you have ever spent even just a few moments with such a special child, you would know what I am talking about when I say that the whole, big world will become a better place because of the small, simple kindness, love, and purity that children of all shapes and sizes and IQ levels bring to it. For those, in their world, who do not know this kind of zest for life that children with special needs do, or who believe a genetic defect defines a person in society, then I truly feel sorry for them and believe their "perfect genetic coding" defines them as society's most defected. In my world at least.

I believe that drive and hard-work amount to being successful. But I believe more in perserverance. I think the more times someone gets knocked down, as long as they get back up each time and try again - they are the most successful. Just because one person had a harder time getting to a certain place, they are just as successful and deserving of it as the person in that same place who had an easier time getting there.

I believe in standing up for what you believe, even if you're the only one standing. No matter how different you are, how stupid you look, or how lonely you are, as long as you're standing for something, you'll stay up. But if you have nothing to stand for, you'll fall for anything.

I admire the person who stands out in a crowd. I admire the one who thinks creatively, the one who surpasses the text-book version of things and creates new ideas, and the one who intrigues us all even if we're looking at them like they are the biggest freak we've ever seen - hey, at least we're looking!

I think the past defines the future, your friends are the family you chose, and your family are the friends you want the most.

Giving credit to people who shape our world can make us all a little better people. We're not supposed to live our life in routine, day-by-day, for the same reasons over and over. We're supposed to be inspired, change the things that are wrong and continue the things that are right, and in the end, we're meant to be the ones who inspire the ones we leave behind.

I think you can learn a lot by learning about your family - the biology of it, the psychology of it, and the emotions of it. Your family defines you and you define your family - no matter who it is that you consider family.

There's a little bit about me and a glimpse into my world. I'm going to write about the things going on my world, the things I like, the things I don't like, and the things I can not change but can learn from.

Peace. Love. Happiness.
-BJJ