Kayle's Corner

Sometiems one smile is worth more than a dozen roses.

It's cute, and I got it off the wrapper of Valentine's candy.

It's been a while since I wrote anything besides an update on how I'm doing. I don't have anything wonderful planned, but something will come up.

Like my neighbor from down the hall who I'm friendly with. I don't really trust her with my feelings or my secrets, so I'm not sure she can be called a friend. I'm her friend, though, even though she dumps on everybody 'cause she's like that. Says whatever she thinks without thinking. It's why I don't trust her an awful lot; she's always talking about everything without thinking who she'll get in trouble or who's feelings she'll hurt.

"I ain't changing who I am for nobody," she says. That's a rotten way to be.

You have to be yourself, but you can also decide who you want to be. Somethings you can't change, but you'll never know until you try. I used to fight with my brother and sister all the time, I didn't care much about them, or my parent's feelings, or my cousin's feelings; all kids are like that. One day, I thought about growing up, and realized that I didn't want to be who I was for the rest of my life. I wanted to grow and change.

My sister drove me nuts, so I decided to start with my brother. I liked my brother. That was easy. I know it's hard for me to verify it myself, but I've never been a very spoiled brat, and I didn't have to make many changes to be nicer to my brother. Soon, he thought I was the greatest sister in the world. I think my sister felt left out, so she got to being nicer to me, too, and I had practice on my brother so being nice to her was easier then.

We had the greatest summer ever that year. We loved spending time together. We had a game system and enjoyed watching each other play it--so we hardly fought over it. We watched the same TV shows. Mom was happy.

I started paying attention to my parent's feelings. You know...I found out that they were people just like me. They try to act like they're different, but some parents aren't all that grown up compared to their children. I was growing up, and I've always sort of been my mother's best friend. My dad was harder. Dad doesn't talk much. Dad isn't home much. I had to work on it, but mostly all I had to do was spend time with him when he was home.

My family are my friends. When I graduated high school, in which I had very few friends, my classmates kept asking me who ALL THESE PEOPLE were. My extended family, those who were able to make it, took up an entire row in the auditorium. We had our own photo shoot afterward. They love me.

The girl down the hall has problems that make her annoying. Some of them she can change and some of them she probably can't, but she won't try. She won't grow. She won't grow up. She had one fight with her other friend, and she wants to end the friendship NOW. The fight wasn't even serious. I'm not saying that she has to become a new person over night, I'm not saying that she's wrong for being who she is, I'm not saying that I don't want to be friends with her. But friends care. Friends hang in there. Friends fight, but they get over it. Friends are the family that you can choose, and you can grow with them.