None of us will ever have Life "all figured out".

Not at 18.

Not at 25.

Not even when you’re 45 or 50, when you have grown kids and grandkids.

Or, 85 when you have stories to tell your grandkids’ kids.

Because every single part of life — every single stage we go through, every single step we take — is a new experience we’ve never set foot on previously. Every second of our lives is uncharted territory.

Some of us look back in retrospect and say we've figured out life. But, in reality, we’ve only figured out our past.

We can look back and say, “I figured out what it was like to grow up, what it’s like to fall in love, what it’s like to be brokenhearted, what it’s like to win or lose…”

The journey ahead is still unfolding and remains a path for all of us to learn. Even if we think we're "repeating history", no two situations are exactly alike. We're not the same people today as we were yesterday. From the moment we are born till the day we die, we're either learning how to "grow up" or "stay young" between taking our first steps and preparing ourselves (if we're lucky enough to anticipate) how to leave this earth and our loved ones behind.

Every single moment is spent learning how to live, how to survive, how to love, how to succeed, how to fall, how to get back up, how to cherish, how to let go, how to say Goodbye and how to die.

We don’t know what it’s like to look forward and see exactly what’s going to happen. Maybe the puzzle to figuring life out is understanding we can't possibly figure it all out, understanding that our mortal lifetime only allows us to understand part of it. Perhaps, we're only to understand that change is a constant we must adapt to and that it's both unknown and inevitable. And, maybe figuring life out is learning that everything you thought you knew is something you no longer do...

Epiphany of the Night: None of us will ever have life “all figured out”, because every step we take is a new experience we're learning.

I'll find my Jef one day.

The foundation for any lasting relationship

is not love,

friendship,

commitment,

or communication.

 All other factors aside,

the single element that binds and holds two people together is

Trust.

Open and honest communication,

real friendship,

unwavering commitment

and true love

cannot exist without Trust.

Without trust,

a relationship cannot grow and evolve.

There are people who deserve to be in your life.

And then, there are those who don't.

Figure out who deserves your love,

and those who don't.

Life is long journey.

Keep company with those who've earned

your respect, dignity and

most importantly,

trust.

There are parts of me ...

people don't see.

don't recognize.

don't appreciate.

don't even know.

I'm not somebody you can easily fool. I see passed facades, white lies; I can detect subtle forms of manipulation and types of influences, including elusive deception. I think this comes from my sensitive nature and intuition. I'm very in touch with my emotions and very well aware of what I feel, as well as why I feel it (the good, the bad and the ugly). I'm a very empathetic person, and it's easy for me to put myself in your shoes, tune into you and basically, become you and see things from your perspective. This also blessed me the ability to get along with many people and understand them as a result, both guys and girls. I'm a girl, so naturally, I know and understand women. We like to emotionally connect with people, talk to them, have heart-to-heart with them. I also understand men. Whereas women generally like to talk, men generally like to do. I grew up with a huge family full of guys. Since it was normal for me to interact with them from the very beginning, it was also very natural for me to get along with and befriend guys, too. I understand what interests them. I joke around with them without feeling nervous or self-conscious about how I acted. It's easy to be myself around guys, because most are easy-going as much as I am easy-going. Many of my interests often aligned with their interests, so naturally, the fit is a match made in heaven. The first friend I ever made was a boy, and some of my closest friends are male. Judging from my past interactions with men, I would say I understand them very well.

They're pretty much very simple. If they want something bad enough, they'll go after it. If something interests them enough, their attention will be held.

You could say this generalization holds true for women, too. However, I think this is more true for most men, because men tend not want to complicate things and "keep it simple".

Most men are simple; Not all. But, most are.

And then, there are those outliers. The ones that don't fit into the mold I've come to learn and know about my whole life. The ones that get underneath your skin, because you can't quite put your finger on them. And, this is where my female brain kicks into gear and starts cranking rotation after rotation of thought after thought. One endless string of unconscious consciousness connected with another.

And, this is when I take a step back and remind myself:

They're pretty much very simple.

If they want something bad enough, they'll go after it.

If something interests them enough, their attention will be held.