"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."
            
 	I have recently learned how true this statement is and started to realize that it 
            
 applies to just about everything in my life.   From college, to getting over the loss of a
            
 good friend, to starting new relationships.
            
 	Ever since I was a little girl I talked about going to college.  As I got into high
            
 school I started to receive letters and information from different colleges.  But the fact
            
 that I was actually going to go didn't hit me until I had to start  picking out and narrowing
            
 down the college I wanted to go to in my junior year.  Now that I'm entering my second
            
 half of my senior year I have to pick out which colleges I apply to and soon will attend. 
            
 The rest of my life started with the small step of dreaming of going to college.
            
 	Over the past few years I have lost many close and dear friends.  Each time I
            
 received the bad news that someone else had passed away the pain I felt was
            
 unbearable and like my whole world came crashing down.  Time went on and I have
            
 learned to accept that no one lives forever and that it was just that persons time to pass
            
 on.  I have also learned to think of each persons life as a blessing and that the end is
            
 not a horrible thing but just makes us appreciate each person around us more.
            
 	After losing so many people in a short period of time I became very wary of
            
 making new friends.  For some reason I thought that if I got to know someone new I
            
 would lose someone else.  I kept pushing people away, trying to protect myself from
            
 feeling more pain.  Thankfully over the summer I had a chance to realize that I thought
            
 wrong.  There were so many people around me that wanted to be my friend and I was
            
 losing out.  By the time I got back to school my whole attitude had changed.  People
            
 that I had pushed away were still willing to be my friend and I accepte
            
...