A New Year's Resolution, Comes the Dawn

My New Year's resolution this year is to reach out and connect more with the people around me. It's funny, I use this blog to bare my heart and soul sometimes, yet struggle to find the time to share even just a tiny ounce of myself with my peers and fellow Baan Unrak volunteers living in our little village.

This has got to change, for the sake of my own sanity. Every day I'm making decisions that directly affect dozens of children, and every night I'm shouldering more and more of the burden it requires to work with troubled youth...it gets too heavy sometimes, even for me, and I will go mad if I continue to keep it all bottled in.

So let's communicate more, shall we? For now, let me start with some sharing, the poem of the month for me! Hope this helps get you through a tough day, if you're ever having one.

Comes the Dawn Author: Veronica A. Shoffstall

After a while you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,
And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning
And company doesn’t mean security,
And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts
And presents aren’t promises,
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes open
With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child,
And you learn to build all your roads on today,
Because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans,
And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.
After a while you learn
That even sunshine burns if you get too much.
So you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul,
Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure...
That you really are strong,
And you really do have worth.
And you learn and learn...
With every goodbye you learn.

Happy New Year to all friends and family, at home and afar!