My Ferry Ride to Fort Sumter

As I walk onto the ferry in Charleston, South Carolina, the crowd around me is anxious with excitement. The cold wind is blowing and the sky is a lucid blue with limited colorless clouds. A family sits together enjoying the scenery and the baby hangs on the rail as the parents point out a white pelican bird with a peach color bill that landed on the boats bow. As I look out the back of the upper deck I see a World War II aircraft carrier in front of me and I see the helicopter and fighter plane stationed on its top deck. The feeling is amazing to know that I am looking at history. As my boat leaves the dock, sounds of the Atlantic Ocean hit my ears like a soothing waterfall. Our ferry churns the water into a constant rushing sound. I look back towards Charleston and see the harbor and the skyline of downtown. I see the restaurant I ate at the night before and the church steeples that line the old streets. The wind soon turns bitter so I walk the blue carpeted open stairs to the lower deck.  A small line of seagull’s start to follow us and the flock continues to grow and over a hundred hungry screeching grayish/white birds trail our boat. As I look down towards the water, dolphins are swimming with the motion of our boat. Their wide tales splash the clear blue water as their noses dive into the waves our noisy boat motor makes. The sailboats around me are enjoying the wind and the bright yellow sun as they cruise the ocean. There are large and small boats all using their sails to guide them. We reach Fort Sumter, the sight of the first battle of the Civil War. The scene is breathtaking. The old war torn building with its colored red bricks stand erect waiting for my adventure within the walls to begin.

All my Girlfriends-Thank you

They Teach It at Stanford

"I just finished taking an evening class at Stanford. The last lecture was on the mind-body connection - the relationship between stress and disease. The speaker (head of psychiatry at Stanford) said, among other things, that one of the best things that a man could do for his health is to be married to a woman, whereas for a woman, one of the best things she could do for her health was to nurture her relationships with her girlfriends.

At first everyone laughed, but he was serious.

Women connect with each other differently and provide support systems that help each other to deal with stress and difficult life experiences. Physically this quality “girlfriend time" helps us to create more serotonin - a neurotransmitter that helps combat depression and can create a general feeling of well being. Women share feelings whereas men often form relationships around activities. They rarely sit down with a buddy and talk about how they feel about certain things or how their personal lives are going. Jobs? Yes. Sports? Yes. Cars? Yes. Fishing, hunting, golf? Yes. But their feelings? Rarely.

Women do it all of the time. We share from our souls with our sisters/mothers, and evidently that is very good for our health. He said that spending time with a friend is just as important to our general health as jogging or working out at a gym.

There's a tendency to think that when we are "exercising" we are doing something good for our bodies, but when we are hanging out with friends, we are wasting our time and should be more productively engaged—not true. In fact, he said that failure to create and maintain quality personal relationships with other humans is as dangerous to our physical health as smoking!

So every time you hang out to schmooze with a gal pal, just pat yourself on the back and congratulate yourself for doing something good for your health! We are indeed very, very lucky. Sooooo let's toast to our friendship with our girlfriends. Evidently it's very good for our health."

Two Wolves

As a Cherokee elder was teaching his grandchildren about life, he said to them,
> “A fight is going on inside of me…it is a terrible fight between two wolves. One
> wolf represents fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance,
> hatefulness, and lies. The other wolf stands for joy, peace, love, hope,
> humility, kindness, friendship, generosity, faith, and truth. This same fight is
> going on inside of you, and inside of every other person too.”
>
> The children thought about it for a minute. Then one child asked his
> grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”
>
> The Cherokee elder wisely replied, “The one you feed.”
>
> A Native American Fable
> Submitted by Danielle Neeley
>
>

Gave Blood....

So at work today the Red Cross was there and I was able to give blood. What a crazy hour! Due to the fact that I told the phlebotimist that my right arm would be better and he said no its fine I will draw from the left, and then ended up fishing for the vein in the left arm. In fact after moments of trying he called over his manager and he had to find my vein. Sometimes I wonder why I give. HAHA no I do because I don't mind it, especially the treats and juice you get afterwards!! I mean really who gives blood and doesn't take advantage of the free treats and juice. Afterwards, I told a co-worker that all I needed now was a nap! Sad to say, I didn't get one. haha
GOOD NEWS MINUTE!  Today my bro and sis in law brought over dinner and dessert for me and parents. It was delicious!! My sis made chicken marinated with root beer and BBQ sauce. I know sounds crazy but it was yummy!!!! Thankful again for an amazing family!!!

School Introduction

For English class I had to write an introduction. I have decided to post here. What do you you think?

Hello,

Welcome to the introduction of Krystal. I am 28 living in Highland, Utah. I am a daughter, sister, friend and an avid bowler. I work for Intermountain Health Care, full time in billing and will hopefully  become a Physical Therapist when 7 -8 years of schooling is done.  I have been able to participate in several life changing events which have helped my character become strong; including a pancreatic cancer survivor and a divorce survivor as well as having re-invented your life moments. As mentioned before I love bowling. I was on a bowling team for 5 years and have won a state title. But money and time have stopped my hobby for now. (Anyone know if our school has a collegiate league?)  I have an amazing family in which I am proud but more grateful to belong to. I have three brothers and one sister/best friend. I have several nephews and nieces whom I adore and they all adore me! (Only because I get to spoil them) lol This semester is putting my toes back in the college realm. I took a year off due to the above mentioned life changing events.  I am excited to be back and to be changing my life for the better. Other areas of changing my life include working out and yoga, in which I love to do. My next love is my car which is a Mazda3, it was a life changing (divorce) present to me.  I also enjoy reading and history. My major before physical therapy is history, any other History Majors? I believe we can learn much from history. It is where we came from and who/what has shaped us today!  Well as you can tell I have lots to say, but for this introduction I will step off my soap box and let someone else take their turn. I hope you are all having a great day!!

Long Day

Hello Day,
What a long one you have been! First with my list at work being so short then my Internet being down most of the afternoon, and yes my job is online today. Then not getting any homework done. Then not getting to the grocery store. Oh man complain. So what we need is...
GOOD MINUTE NEWS! 
My sister spent the day with me. YEA for SISTERS!!!! Ok seriously what would I do if I didn't have my sister. I don't think I would have survived my crazy life! Love her tons! She is there for me on the bad days, the good days and all the days in between. She is there when I am crazy and when I am just not myself. I am sure my Heavenly Father put me and my sis together for eternity for a reason!! Who else can put up with me for that long??  :)

First Day of School

Well what can I say, its the first day of school and I am not in the school mood!!! WHAT! I know right. So lets hope and pray that over the next week I get in the mood and finish with A's!!!
GOOD MINUTE NEWS! Today I went to go buy my school books and when I got to Beat The Book Store, I had a $40 credit on my account. So YEA !!!!
PS if you cant tell my Good Minute News is also another way of saying Blessing of the Day news! I have so many blessings in my life its insane!!! I am so grateful everyday for all the blessings in my life and for all of you in it!!!