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IMAGINE ALL THAT IS GOOD IN THE WORLD.

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|  School Buses  by Alex Grant  | The mind is a powerful thing. I immerse myself in this thought while watching my 3-year old nephew play pretend over and over, silently singing along to a song he had previously watched . He would imagine the opening of a bus door as it comes to a stop in front of him. He’d imagine himself as the bus driver. He’d then imagine himself as one of the passengers. He had memorized the actions from the video perfectly, and he’d re-enact everything in his own little universe. Oblivious of everything around him, he would live in his own song---aaand not just one song. He has a whole lot of other Little Baby Bum songs that would randomly play in his head...like a childlike kind of Last Song Syndrome that is bound to stick around for quite a while. And then I wonder about what goes on in his head when his imaginative play gets disrupted. How does his imaginary street and bus disappear? How about the other passengers with him? What’s amazing abo

THE ONLY GIFT THAT ENDURES.

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When I was a little girl, I would always play pretend in the corner of our bedroom. I would imagine a man kneeling and asking for my hand in marriage. He would slid the toy ring around my bony little finger (I used Barbie's crown/tiara as the pretend ring hehe), and I'd say "Yes!" in delight. I have always been a dreamer, and I believe in romance and love. Why shouldn't we, right? I see romance alive between my parents everyday. I see romance in God's amazing ways everyday. :) When I was in highschool, I recall my teacher in Christian Living telling us to be patient and specific in our prayers. She said that it's very true even in relationships. I might have been inconsistent in my prayers sometimes, and maybe I failed to be specific enough most nights, but I would always ask for His, and Our Lady's guidance whenever I can and even in the most ordinary moments of the day. Many moons ago, I asked for a heart that forgives, and I

SERVE LIFE FORWARD: Travel meaningfully, Live joyfully.

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| Boracay, Philippines. 2015 | I have nothing but precious words for Earl for helping me make my first trip to Boracay exceptionally memorable. He made a video of the trip , and I was very thrilled to see it and share it with the family. :) While it is true that you need a budget to travel, there is absolute truer truth  (hehe) in the cliche that the best things in life are free. Things like the feel of the warm sand between your toes as you cruise your way towards that venerably majestic point where the sea meets the shore. Or the cool morning breeze brushing up your face, bringing along with it years and years of stories of natural awesomeness--of a force that formed the rocks that hide beneath the earth, and sustained an island as beautiful as Boracay. Also making life as awe-inspiring as it already is are encounters with people who are lovely and compassionate about the world. They are a great testimony to the wondrous things one can create and inspire with kind

IT'S FRIDAY, I'M IN LOVE.

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|  written in slumber  by matryosha  | There are days when even your morning coffee does not taste the same; you try your hardest, in vain, to figure out how to fix it. After helplessly staring at it, like how Alice would through a looking glass, you sigh and just settle. You know days like this will pass anyway. Then your plate of pancakes does not look as appetizing as its thought in your head two nights ago, When you tossed and turned in your bed with the strangest pancake craving you have ever experienced in you entire existence. You draw images on top of them with your maple syrup, sigh, and convince yourself: This, too, shall pass. Breakfast is finished. The most important meal of your day sucked, and you do not know how the rest of the day would go. And it's a Friday.  "Of all days," you mutter to yourself. You sit and stare blankly around the empty house. There are a million  things and to-do's and people and places in your head, but yo

AND THE GIFT OF MY HEARTBEAT SOUNDS LIKE A SYMPHONY.

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|  Death is romantic  by Erlend Schei  | Do you have a morning song?--the 'jam' that you feed your ears before you start your day? The musical mantra that fuels up every snooze-loving muscle in your body? I have.  It's "Chasing the Sun" by Sara Bareilles. It started out as 'just a song' that played along with the other songs I have in my playlist. Then I heard it again and again...and again, until that part of the brain that deals with music and probably deep thought lit up and told me that I better pay closer attention to what the song is trying to say. Thus began my search. Nothing fancy. Just Google, really (because technology is amazing like that!). Then I came to understand that the song speaks exquisitely of DEATH. And how wonderful is Ms. Bareilles' mind for being able to capture such thought--often unspoken about for the gloominess it evokes---put it in writing, and make it completely 'okay' to sing a