Graduation

I am one proud sister. My brother graduated from high school! He is so tall he was towering over all of his classmates and we found him in the sea of everyone draped in the same gowns hundreds of yards away.

We are so very blessed to both be out of high school. Seeing as my brother and I are only 17 months apart, we have always done things fairly close together. Fortunately, that makes it possible for us to be fairly close pals... much of the time. Of course, we do get into a lot of fights, but those are beginning to stop! I had such a fantastic week with my brother. We played Frisbee, went to the park, went to the movies and did all sorts of stuff! Plus, when it was just us at home, we just joked around and talked.

L-rd willing, he will get into my university. Then, L-rd willing, we will be able to find an apartment to live in together and be able to afford life. Right now, I am freaking out because I have no concrete plans for next year. Funny thing though, is that G-d keeps letting my life be up in the air. Whether it is not knowing if I am going to be in nursing school, to not knowing where I will be working, I don't know what is going on! Not to mention who I will be living with or where we will be. Life seems to be falling apart. But, this happens a lot with me, and I think it may be because G-d is trying to break my worrying habits and the fact that I try to control everything and plan ahead for everything. He is teaching me to rely on Him. For some reason, I fail to completely rely on Him for my whole life. He gets me through some really tough situation, then I go back to trying to control the future. Folks, life doesn't work that way.

Still, through these struggles and lessons, G-d bestows wisdom on those willing to learn. Something occurred to me today: I would rather have the pain of wisdom than the ease of ignorance. That phrase popped into my head today during shul. I think it was a G-d thought.

The reason I say wisdom is pain, is because to get wisdom, you have to go through tough things in life. You have to experience rough patches or you have to learn from watching others go through difficult situations. I believe Solomon talked about how difficult it is to have wisdom because you understand the sad, angering, ridiculous things that happen in this life and sometimes why they happened. For me, wisdom is very important, but it is also frustrating for me because I replay what could have happened. At the same time, this is encouraging because I have helped so many people around me through their troubles. Not only do they survive the ordeal, but they succeed and they learn through the experience. To me, I would rather have the pains of wisdom than the ease and comfort of not knowing at all. Do you have any input on this? To me, ignorance is not bliss. It may seem like bliss at one point, but eventually reality catches up with everyone and slaps them in the face. So, why not just learn as much as possible in the first place and gain as much knowledge and wisdom as possible.

Daily Thanksgiving: G-d does not give up on me, or on any of us. He gives us wisdom and allows us to learn from our mistakes. He is also so very patient and gracious. My brother graduated and applied to my college. I have an amazing brother and we are beginning to get along. He is probably my closest friend and the only person I am closer to on earth is my mom. G-d has blessed me with a cute dog, a great brother, loving mom and dad and many, many friends.