Who is your role model? [And it can be anyone.]

I know this has been asked countless times before, but I really want to see who you all look up to. It can be anyone, a band member, a celebrity, whatever. I'm not going to judge because you'll see something I don't.

For me, it is my eighteen year old cousin. I've just been on a trip down to Mahia to see my uncle, aunt, and cousins, Jess and Buster (Chris).

I haven't seen my cousin, Jess, in over three years. And back then, I was twelve. That's when I found out that she had harmed herself. She hid it from her parents...and you should see the scars. They weren't on her wrists, they were on her upper thighs. Several cuts, at least an inch long. Her parents didn't know what to do but they did the only thing they could, which was send her somewhere.

Now, being so young, I wasn't "allowed" to know the full details, and I don't think I could have fully understood, even if I did know. But what I do know is that...to be doing that, she must have been going through some seriously tough stuff.

The reason she is my role model, however, is that she is alive. She got through it. She's in her second year at university/college, studying psychology and genetics. And once she finishes, she wants to be a specialised doctor who can tell people what is wrong with their genetically disables child. Like, things that family doctors are not able to tell.

And well, I think that's pretty amazing. She must have been so low...but now, well, she's making it! She's actually doing that. And that, well, I think that's pretty inspiring.

And Jess doesn't even know it.

I personally think that a role model should be someone who makes you want to be better, and do greater things. Seeing her, and her actions, makes me believe that I can actually do something.

So, what about you?

I love you all and I've missed you so much. It's good to be back to Mibba,
alone; together

P.S. My next journal is most likely to be about the trip. I got some awesome photos of the sunset!

You should go read this. I didn't write it, and it deserves more appreciation because it is an amazingly written story by both writers.