During the early years of my adolescence, I kept a diary. A quick review of this memoir, (yes, I still have it), reveals that most of my musings centered around the relationships I had with my mother and father, my sister, and several boys I knew from school. In the back of the diary, under a section labeled "Index of Important Events" are several dates and entries scrawled in my youthful handwriting. Sadly, this index serves as a poignant reminder of the struggles I endured as a result of my parents' divorce, unrequited love from those aforementioned boys, and the intentional stabbing of a frog with the pointy edge of a cross-country ski pole by my sister, coupled with a promise she made the following day never to kill another frog. Consequently, if someone were to present an oration of the events listed, they'd more than likely do so with a melancholy face, a distressed hand to the forehead, and a sigh or two thrown in for good measure.
The intent here is not to downplay the conflict I experienced during my teens, but rather to keep it in perspective. Did divorce, rejection, and death have an impact on me? No doubt. However, as I grew older, I began to realize I am not defined by my past, by the fleeting opinions of others, nor by circumstances I cannot control. Thus, with the realization that anything is possible, I created a new "Index of Important Events" based on where I want to go, not where I've been. "Dear diary, today I . . ."
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