Long Over Due Thanks

I sit in front of my keyboard, on this cool Wednesday night and reflect back on this year. A year ago, I started a journey that would require me as the driver and no backseat driving allow what-so-ever. I would be able to make a U-turn, turn, or come to a screeching halt, at any street I pleased. I had to be extremely cautious, because this was the most crucial time in my life.

Around this same time, you guys came into my life and changed it for good. I obviously had known some of the people from before, but I was not much of a social person when it came down to meeting new people at church. I love to meet new people, but I seemed afraid to do so at church.

The lyrics from "For Good" from Wicked pretty much sum up all my feelings. So here it goes...

I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason. Bringing something we must learn and we are led to those who help us most to grow, If we let them and we help them in return. Well, I don't know if I believe that's true but I know I'm who I am today because I knew you: Like a comet pulled from orbit, as it passes a sun. Like a stream that meets a boulder halfway through the wood. Who can say if I've been changed for the better? But because I knew you, I have been changed for good

It well may be, that we will never meet again, in this lifetime. So let me say before we part so much of me is made of what I learned from you. You'll be with me, like a handprint on my heart, and now whatever way our stories end. I know you have re-written mine. By being my friend: Like a ship blown from its mooring, by a wind off the sea. Like a seed dropped by a sky bird in a distant wood. Who can say if I've been changed for the better? But because I knew you, I have been changed for good.


I often think of Wicked: The Musical when I think of FSJD. Our relationship started off rocky and not the best of terms, as I was in a crossroads in life. I was going through a change in my life, and was glad to see somebody who had such kindness in their hearts and extend their friendship too me. I had not seen this in a long time, and almost seemed to shrug of the gesture. I had just seen people who come into my life and are in it too steal all they can, leaving me hurt and unable to trust. I see myself as being Elphaba, the green one. I resonated with this, because she was physically green, and deemed as wicked due to that. I did not feel wicked, I felt like I was green, because my looks deceived people. Don’t ever judge a book by its cover. In the midst of all that, I struggle to see my reflection in the mirror. Metaphorically speaking, I would see the green and not the person under it all, as the Ozians saw Elphaba, the wicked witch.

This goes out to all the FSJD members, with special mentions to Joseph Homsy & Amanda Burgoyne (Joseph has been the true meaning of inspiration to me and Amanda and I hit it off right away, like two long lost friends.) and our wonderful President and Vice President Laura Mraibie and Victor Imreibe, also to Father Fouad Saba, for caring, it’s that simple, yet that hard. You guys have been the light at the end of the tunnel, the yin to my yang, sticking together like peanut butter and jelly. As a wise man once said "Without God, without you, and without any of us, there simply is no FSJD. We have all been blessed with something amazing. "