Day 2: Least Favorite Book in the Series

As much as I love getting to meet Ginny,  this is the least enjoyable book. I find Hagrid's story annoying, so are the spiders. Plus, they haven't started to mature, and if I remember correctly, Percy is still there and he's annoying. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone starts the series, but then book 2 lags, and then 3 just takes you away. I did like how Rowling referred back to things in book 2 throughout the rest of the series, but it's still my least favorite.

Day 1: Favorite Book in the Series

Yes, this is my favorite book. Here are some of my reasons. Getting more background on Neville and his parents. The time in the house at the beginning (even though Harry gets annoying, but he always gets annoying). Dumbledore's Army--such an amazing part of the book. The fight in the Ministry of Magic. And my favorite reason--Fred and George and their amazing leaving of Hogwarts. I may or may not have a huge crush on them. But honestly, who doesn't love Fred and George?.

Harry Potter Challenge

I'm going to do this. I'm hoping to do it every day, but we'll see. In a month or so, I will have completed this challenge.

Starbucks

I like to go against the grain. So me sitting in Starbucks with a group of college students at 12:45 AM is not my thing. But yet here I am. What happened?

At the end of the summer, I was asked to be a leader for the freshman class. I really didn't want to say yes because of the people I was going to work for, but I thought it would be good for me to do something extracurricular since I let school and work consume my life, and then I have no life outside of school and work. Most of the people I talked to thought I should do it, and one sister was pretty against it. I could understand reasons behind my sister and then the others. I decided to take the counsel of the others, and now I find myself sitting in Starbucks wwwwwwwwwwaaaaaaayyyyyyyy past my bedtime.

I'm not upset that I said yes though. And even sitting here, I know it's good for me. I'm outside of my comfort zone interacting with people I would normally ignore. And I'm learning that there not all bad people. Do I agree with much of what they say and do? Probably not, but I'm getting to know them as people and finding out about interests and likes and dislikes. I'm putting myself out there.

I'm learning to stop judging so quickly. I judge in a split-second, and I struggle with changing my attitude once I've passed judgment. It's not been perfect, but it's not been horrible. I'm experiencing the passing fad of doing homework in Starbucks late in the night. And I'm slowly learning to judge less quickly--that's going to take forever.

An Unexpected Friend

When I started working at Hallmark 4 years ago, I knew one person, and even then, I didn't know her too well. At the time, I didn't think we would be friends at all. This was my first job, so I didn't know that you become friends with those you work with. Some become very close friends, others just become good acquaintances.

I didn't expect Sarah and I to become such good friends. At the beginning, I was frustrated because she didn't know what she was going to do, and she kept reliving her high school days. But then I got to know her, and I looked past all of that and saw her as a person. I stopped judging and started listening and loving and stopped focusing on myself. I'm not sure at what point it happened, but we became friends. She was one of the first friends that I realized I didn't have to be exactly like them to be good friends. Our differences made the friendship better.

It's been amazing to see her change and grow over the past 4 years. I've seen her go through a relationship and the hardship of a break-up. I've seen her go through the questions of, what next? I've seen her question why she studied what she did at school. I've seen her expand her knowledge of movies. I've seen her being such an encouragement to others at church. I've seen her leave her comfort zone to reach out to some ladies. I've seen her stay in a job which was difficult. I've seen her become an independent woman. And I've loved it all.

We said goodbye today. I know I'll see her again, and we'll pick up right where we left off in our friendship. (We have that kind of friendship where we can talk every couple of months and be good.) But I never expected her to be a good friend, and I never expected it would be hard to say goodbye.

However, this is a good goodbye because I'm so happy for where she's going and how everything has worked out. I'm so proud of her for taking this next big step after having seen all the little steps.

So, goodbye Sarah. I love you, and I'm so thankful for our friendship. I will miss you, but I hope you only come back to visit. Have an amazing time starting this next step in your life!