A Long Way Down

Wow! I'm finally here at Baylor. About a week ago I began my journey. After having an extreemly successful horse show (the Dayton Horse Show), I left my home town of Beavercreek, OH for the long, lonely road. Well, perhaps that's not entirely true, since I did have my dog Emmy with me. However, she proved to be a rather quiet companion. So, the 20 plus hour drive was rather lonely. It took me two days, five fast food meals, one motel room, and a whole lot of reflection. For the most part the roads were clear and the traffic was flowing at a decent pace. There wasn't anything terribly horrific or otherwise interesting, which left me with my thoughts, pure and unobstructed. I noticed that more often than not I would drift into automatic drive and follow my ideas about the past and future as they weaved in and out, always leaving more concerns in their wake. I realized that there were two quotes that always came to mind when I thought of all the situations I've dealt with over the past two years. The first one was, "Well, it could always be worse." And of course the next one was, "But it could always be better too." It's funny that these two phrases seem to sum up every situation in life. No matter how bad it gets, things could always be worse; and no matter how wonderful and perfect things appear, they could always be better. So this is what I've decided: my life has its ups and downs, but if I keep in mind that things could always be worse in the down times, then I'll always be encouraged, and if I remember that things could always be better in the good times, then it will keep me humble. Although we may strive for the perfect life, nothing in this world is perfect. However, we can have a good life by living somewhere inbetween, remembering that if we do our own personal best, that's the most perfect we'll ever be.