Memories Are Sweet- Cherish Them

If you've read my previous posts (well, the few that I have), then you know I don't really get personal. I keep things to the point, and try to keep my wrtings short and sweet. Well this post is going to be different. I have a personal reason for writing this. Most people, when looking back on life, think of a time when everything seemed perfect, but didn't realize it until later. I too, have a time when I was totally obvlivious to the great things in my life. Looking back on all the memories, I didn't realize how lucky I truly was. I suppose I had better tell you about that time, before I lose your interest in a sob story of how I wish I could go back in time to change things.
The story starts when I was only seven years old. I was living in Maine, with all my family and loving it. My father was in the Navy, and when we got the orders to move to Patuxent River, Maryland, I was crushed. Everything I had ever know was in Maine. Well, come January we were living in Maryland. I hated it at first. I complained all the time, and pouted just to annoy my parents. To be honest, I wanted them to pay for making me leave Maine, so I made life miserable for them. That only lasted a bit, though. As the dreary days of January and February past into the warm spring days of March and April, I began to warm up to Pax River.
 One day in, about April I suppose, there was a new girl at school. Jazzmyn was her name. Although I am now ashamed of it, I distinctly remember looking at her tall frame standing there with big, goofy glasses and a striped shirt, and thinking that she was a dork, and that I would never be freinds with her. It seems almost funny now that I've known her for nearly eight years and consider her a sister. Come May, I turned eight years old. School got out and I passed the second grade with straight A's on June 18th (it's beyond me how I remeber the exact day). By then I liked Maryland, I loved Maine still, but there were worse places I could be than the small Naval base there.
Then I met him. A boy, that to this day, is still making my life wonderful and who makes me smile. The boy that can look at the huge grin on my face and ask, "What's wrong?" because he knows me that well. The boy that, when he comes to visit, is going to shove me off my bed and steal my blanket at night (inside joke). His name was/is Devin.
I had seen him around before, sure, I even talked to him a few times. He was my neighbor, and was in a grade higher than me, so he waited for the bus at my stop too. But that one day when I was playing on my front lawn in June really changed my life a lot, and I know it was for the better. He just stopped by for about two minutes to say hi and just talk. I, being freakishly shy, was too stunned to say much. I liked talking to him, though. All I remember from the conversation is as he was about to walk away, he turned to me with the mischevious, boyish grin that I now know so well (the one I love), and said, "You know what? By the time I'm done with you, you wont be shy anymore." All I could do was smile.
Enough about him though. Devin is half of the reason I began to love Maryland, but not all of it. Let's talk about the other half. I'm not sure what it was. Maybe it was the glow of the fireflies in the darkness of all those summer nights. Or the way the sun would shine just right sometimes, and I couldn't help but smile. Maybe it was the huge birthday part I had when I turned nine. The one my mom told me I could invite eight people to, but about seventeen ended up coming. I'm not sure what it was, exactly. All I know is that I loved it.
What I look back on, in regret though, was that I didn't realize it at the time. I didn't realize that I was surrounded by people; family and friends alike, who loved me. I think of Maryland all the time. It brings bittter sweet memories. Sweet because, well, everyday of my life was sweet while we lived there. Bitter because I have a horrible longing to be able to go back. To be able to live like that just one more time.
People often say that when a loved one passes, not a day goes by for the rest of their lives that they don't think of them. I have never lost someone close to me, but I do know that I think of Maryland every waking second. It's the last thing I remember before I fall asleep. I often wonder if maybe its because of all the 'crap' shall we say, that has since happened. To put it simply, Maryland, so far, has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. Well, not Maryland itself, but all the people there. All the places. All the smiles, the friendship, the happiness, the warmth.
So, bottom line- live life as if today is the best thing that has ever happend to you. Because for all you know, it just might be. Life is what you make it. We all have regrets, or something we wish we could change. Personally, I see nothing wrong with that. People say, "Live with no regrets." If you were to ask me though, I wouldn't agree. It's good to have them- regrets are what keep you from messing up again. It's only when you give up on life because of the weight of all the regrets that they become bad. I wish, with all my being, that I had realized just how lucky I was. I will never again make that mistake.
My advice to whomever may be reading this is simple.
Life is short. Live it.
Love is rare. Grab it.
Fear is awful. Face it.
Anger is bad. Dump it.
Memories are sweet. Cherish them.