  "Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much because they live in the great twilight that knows not victory or defeat. " -Theodore Roosevelt What does it mean when your father sends you the above quote? It is so dead-applicable to my life. I haven't honestly taken a risk since I was thirteen. In the words of Mary, "You gots ta git some self-esteeeem! " (This was last year, of course. We used to say that all the time, because our Health teacher always talked about how young girls needed self-esteem. She was convinced every female under the age of twenty had some form of fatal eating disorder. ) So, this is going to be a post about Mary. I can feel it. I haven't seen her since early October... Christ, she's in my homeroom . I've heard bits and pieces that she has mono.
My secret theory is that her parents are going to start home schooling her again, if they already haven't. She is going to reach a huge disappointment when she reaching adulthood and sees that the world is not going to cushion her like her family and cult do. I am so bitter. Once, last year, I was upset cause we were going to have to sit through a Sep. 11th anniversary thing for two hours during our Global Issues class.
She convinced her mom it was unnecessary for her to go, and Mrs. Thomas took us back to their house. Mary lives only a block way from this beautiful park. We were feeling aimless and loved that we were legally truant, so we went to the park. There were this big, rubber U-shaped swings that I used to play on when I was little. It was so poetic, they were squeaking in the breeze and calling to us. We swung on those damn swings for over an hour, until we had exhausted the "I'm flying over that tree! and that house! " and felt too dizzy to stand. The grass was so warm, and I felt officially befriended and just... content. Affectionately... Anna 
