They hit you sometimes when you least expect it causing you tone off balance.

I find that these epiphany moments exist that hit me when I am waking up, sitting down to a morning moment, and just the oddest moments, waves of emotion that just come from, from…and I realize where.  Over the years I have been given the amazing amazing gift, every day, of individuals that make me feel alive amid the roller coasters of stress we all encounter.  Hence the eraser – I hear all the time people say they will not erase anything that has happened in their lives.  I wish I could be one of them.  Yet, I have to say, I would gladly take an eraser and fill a tabletop full of shavings to erase those moments where I fill my cup is full to the max, stressed beyond the word “S”, and I am unable to take in the very moments I feel on top of the world, thanks to the very people that make me feel on top of the world.

Tabula rasa was the concept provided by a group of teachers at the beginning of the school year as a way to head into the 2014-2015 year, and I could not agree more, yet a larger challenge makes it even better.  Since the first day of school, I have been surprised on a daily basis – I will remove the word students and say their names, because each of these individuals has moved past the role of student, even though they still serve in that capacity, are are coming into their own as someone you adds so much to those around them.

If you have ever seen Sarah Herrera’s smile, you know what I am talking about, it is just ear to ear and perhaps one of the most amazing aspects to brighten a day, and when I saw her walk through the doors of ASF after her seemingly forever trip in Israel, I just realized how lucky I was to have met someone who can shine a light on all things, whether good or bad, life is so fun if you just allow it to come to you in those waves.  Add to that a procession of amazing young “movers and shakers” like Monse Ibanez, Lucia Ocejo, Sofia Sanchez, David Hubp, Natalia Clark, Camila de la Parra, David Favila, this SMALL PERCENTAGE of amazing people that have changed a whole day just with there smile that brings back a wave of how much I miss them – well if that wasn’t enough…

…we look at a young Repentino. staff for 2014-2015 – young in the sense that yes we have a mixture of seniors, freshmen, juniors and sophomores, but their energy cannot be contained to a single organization or club ; how amazingly lucky are we to have all of them together?  That is beyond a price tag – THEN take the amazing individuals that changed, influenced, and shaped my life as it is now from Seafod, DE, from Coach Doakes and an amazing amazing spirited XC team, to the amazing individuals like Mrs Wheatley, Mrs Cox-Cannon, and so so many more that allowed every day’s challenge to turn into a smile of some sort –

..to the amazing individuals that shaped my life in Butler, PA and being lucky enough to reactivate the connections with them and knowing they still are rising to accomplishments unseen as of yet, but still rising.  It is maybe cliche, but without a doubt, I feel like Matt in the outtakes of this video where these are simply outtakes, yet, I always feel I am in a different place and a different time thanks to the uplifting memories everyone has been involved with me in – I always feel surrounded and not having to be with those individuals every day and STILL feeling that ?  I am not sure there is any amount of trips, price tag, or experience that can cause that realization – and I would not trade it for the world.

Looking over the past weeks since school has started, it is astounding what has occurred in honestly a short amount of time – seeing my first luche libre in Mexico since being here four years (it was AMAZING and SO FUN!), meeting talented authors and sharing them with students and seeing their strengths come out as a result, combining the past and present Repentino. to completely new challenges and accomplishments in the 2014-2015 year, revisiting the past with so many individuals that have defines what a good life really is, an AMAZING freshmen Advocacy group at school that defines the idea of optimism and to be honest, is just amazingly fun to be around in the morning, taking in all that Mexico has to offer over the summer and accenting it with the graduates that grew with me, and never losing touch with them –

I have said it once and will say it again – I am blessed thanks to the magical possibilities of those around me and get very motivated when I see this tight knit family of achievers rise to so many occasions – 2014-2015 will be an amazing year due to each of them – so yes, erasing the moments where I succumb to the stress that still floats in the air is a definite, erasing the past bad moments? – I would say no, it helps me realize how good I have it when I came to a bright spot in the form of each of the smiles I see playing back in my mind.  These unseen magical moments that occur everyday, from meeting the perfect German stand in Mexico making the perfect Bratwurst, and not knowing this would happen, to feeling the success of those around you, when they see these events as just tiny, little insignificant tasks, (yet you know it is just one step towards them becoming something even greater!), to the peace you soak in of an early boring or late night – it becomes each to create tabula rasa with the right people around you to move you in the direction.