Speak Now.

Real life is a funny thing, you know. In real life, saying the right thing at the right moment is beyond crucial. So crucial, in fact, that most of us start to hesitate, for fear of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. But lately what I've begun to fear more than that is letting the moment pass without saying anything.

I think most of us fear reaching the end of our life, and looking back regretting the moments we didn't speak up. When we didn't say 'I love you.' When we should've said 'I'm sorry.' When we didn't stand up for ourselves or someone who needed help.

Words can break someone into a million pieces, but they can also put them back together. I hope you use your words for good because the only words you'll regret more than the ones left unsaid are the ones you used to intentionally hurt someone.

What you say might be too much for some people. Maybe it wil come out all wrong and you'll stutter and you'll walk away embarrassed, wincing as you play it all back in your head. But I think the words you stop yourself form saying are the ones that will haunt you the longest.

So say it to them. Or say it to yourself in the mirror. Say it in fa letter you'll never send or in a book millions might read someday. I think hyou deserve to look back on your life without a chorus of resounding voices saying "i couldn't, but it's too late now.'

There is a time for silence. There is a time for waiting your turn. But if you know how you feel, and you so clearly know what you need to say, you'll know it.

I don't think you should wait. I think you should speak now.

Love, Taylor

Victor Hugo + Sunbeams = Not so Good.

The lesson for Sunbeams today was on Honestly and for story time I tried telling a super watered down version of the story Les Misérables following Jean Valjean. Anyway, I talked about how he stole a loaf of bread and was put into prison for ten years (I really don't know how long he was there, it was just something easy for the kids to understand. You know, having ten fingers and all that.) I told about how he escaped and went into disguise (And then of course I had to explain what disguise meant and all that) I said that a while later the police found another man who looked just like him and were going to throw him into prison instead. ..And that's when I lost them. I could see their eyes just sort of glaze over as I tried to explain. It was kind of funny. And then at that point I decided to just bag the whole story and end it really fast. So I asked the kids, what should Jean Valjean do? (except I think I used a different name..) And one of my four year old's (in the cutest little voice) said, "He should do the right thing." So I told about how he went to the police and told them that he was the real "bad guy" and that the other man didn't do anything wrong and so the policemen were going to have to put him back in prison. When I said that the kids all started getting very anxious. They didn't like the idea of the main guy going back to prision for doing the right thing. (He was honest after all) So I said that the policemen decided to let him go, and he got food, and he was all better. The end!

Uncommon.

It will always be easy to do what you've always done. It's doing what you've never done before that gives spice to life. We all have our comfort zones. I have mine and you have yours. I for one hate sleeping in any bed but my own. I don't like going where there are crowds of people. I'd prefer hanging out with two or three of my closest friends. But if there's one thing I've learned over the years it's this: It isn't the usual things that leave marks in our memory. It's the unusual things that we look back on and remember. When we are uncomfortable or scared out of our mind or outrageously happy, those are the times we remember most. When we do the same things all the time, life just sort of blurs together. Time has no meaning. ..George Washington Carver once said, "When you do the common things in life in an uncommon way you will command the attention of the world." And as Mrs. Frizzle used to say, "Take chances. Make mistakes. And get messy."

Poetry for Breakfast.

I watched a movie last week called "Cyrano de Bergerac." It's a French story about this sword fighter slash poet, who also happens to have an abnormally large nose. He's in love with Roxanne and Roxanne is in love with this pretty boy named Christian. Roxanne is the type of girl who drinks poetry for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And Christian is the type of boy who is couldn't write a verse if the entire universe depended on it. And Cyrano, like Roxanne, loves poetry. So, as the story goes, Cyrano writes letters to Roxanne, upon her request, and pretends to be Christian. Christian is the face and Cyrano is the soul.

Anyway, as I was watching the movie I kept thinking to myself, Gosh, this girl is insane. Here he is going off to battle and all she can think of is that he risks his life to write her love letters. Here he is standing under her balcony and all she wants from him is poetry. Don't talk about yourself, don't kiss me or even touch me, just stand there in the rain and tell me how much you love me. I mean, seriously? How shallow! But then I thought. ...I am exactly like her.

Feed me poetry and I shall devote myself to you. Write me verses and I am yours. ..Well, maybe I'm not exactly like her, but I'm pretty dang close. I love words. I love words that flow and paint beautiful pictures. If a guy recited verses to me I'd be smitten. Wholeheartedly. Give me Keats, tell me Shakespeare, read me Ingersoll, Browning, Goncourt, Byron..

So, is that a girl thing or just a Julia thing?

I Am.

I was challenged by a friend this week to write a list of twenty "I Am" statements. We were talking about how a person knows when they have discovered who they are and how they know. I guess the question was: If you feel like who know who you are and who you want to be, but people tell you that you need to 'find yourself' how do you do that? I mean, if you already feel like you know yourself? Anyways, this is my list. You should try it!

I am a daughter.
I am a sister.
I am a friend.
I am a student.
I am a teacher.

I am a writer
I am a worrywart.
I am a decent cook.
I am a perfectionist.
I am a lover of literature.

I am an observer.
I am imaginative.
I am considerate.
I am intelligent.
I am reserved.

I am loyal.
I am caring.
I am dedicated.
I am thoughtful.
I am hardworking.