February 12

I have to write today. This is one of my favorite day's of the year. Today is Abraham Lincolns birthday. Yes, for those of you who don't know already, I'm a little bit of the nerd, minus the computer smarts, math smarts, and pocket protectors ...when it comes to words, and those who use them well, I am hopeless enthralled. That is why today is my favorite day.

My intern instructor told us several years ago, on Lincolns birthday, that Abe Lincoln had one major fear that drove his life. He was afraid that he'd miss his calling, that his opportunity to change the world would pass without him seizing it and he would never make the most of his life. He was, above all, afraid of living a worthless life. I remember sitting stunned in my chair.

That day Abe became my hero, not because we share the exact same fear, but because he utilized his fear instead of being paralyzed by it. 

Now I read his quotes, read his books, whenever I can get a hold of them. I even read a collection of letters to his wife, intriguing though I'm not striving to get hitched to someone debatabely insane. I've heard Abe might have been a little mentally unstable himself. My abnormal psych teacher just told us, "If you're wondering why your always dating crazy people, there may be a reason." But then the contradiction that comes to my mind is that an extraordinary person couldn't be extraordinary, if they were ordinary. Ah, alas, it matters little and even less since I'm trying to think constructively past midnight and I've crossed into another day. Oh no, it's February 13th... I'll leave with these quotes from Lincoln himself:

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than anyone thing."

"And in the end, its not the years in your life that count, its the life in your years." 

"Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally."

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.

Die when I may, I want it said by those who knew me best, that I always plucked a thistle and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow." 

Nothing will divert me from my purpose. purpose.
— Abraham Lincoln