Once upon a time, I knew a girl whose laugh could make you melt. Her smile started at her toes and beamed out through her eyes. Ask people what they remembered most about her; and they agreed, her smile. I wanted to be that girl again.

I was always proud of you, even when you didn’t think you deserved it. I never wanted perfection. I just wanted you to be happy, and we’re all happiest when we’re exceeding past that point where we thought we couldn’t go.

In the scramble of living each day, I had given up dreams; and even sadder, I hadn’t even realized it — not until that moment. I finished the interview and walked to my car as the question played again and again in my mind: “What’s my dream?”

Isn’t it fascinating that something as apparently worthless as pulverized grape goop could yield a product responsible for the meringue topping on your coconut pie. Everything has worth. Everything has purpose. Everything has value; be it grape goop or a person.

Days and days I felt like I was rowing a rickety boat across an ocean of sticky muck. And, no matter how hard I pulled, it kept sucking me in. Deep down I knew if anything was going to change, I had to get out of the boat. You have to get out of your boat.