What is the best present you have ever received?

November is a time of celebration for me, as it is my birthday month.  On my birthday last week, I received many calls, emails, cards, texts, and visits from friends and family all around the world. I felt the outpour of love and support and am truly blessed. For me, presence is the best present!

Someone asked me "Who are your role models?", and to be honest, I had a hard time answering it.  I couldn’t think of very many females of my generation (i.e., in their twenties) who I wanted to aspire to be like.  The person who asked me the question was looking for examples of famous people.

I have had encounters with some famous people who I looked up to when I was a child, but when I met them in person years later, they were unfriendly and standoffish. I lost respect for them as the image they portray in the media is disconnected from the real version of themselves.  There are many people that are the same onscreen as they are in person; those I respect and model after.

You miss 100% of the shots you never take, right? Well, when one of my sisters presented me with this offer to join her on vacation, I had to go. I’m so glad I did.I recently returned from a trip of a lifetime with my sister to Britain and Ireland. We loved it so much.  My sister and I spent three weeks touring these beautiful countries on a coach with a tour group. It really was a special time, and I’m blessed that I got the opportunity to do this trip, especially with my sister.

My sister and I haven’t seen each other much in the last several years due to living in different cities for school.  Since we both had recently graduated, we thought we would take an adventure before we start the next steps in our lives.

I learned so much on our trip! Here are the top ten lessons I was taught while on vacation:

People have many roles in their lives.  I became aware of all my roles when I had to write them down one day in class. For example, this is what I came up with:

- daughter, sister, grand-daughter, niece, friend, colleague, athlete, student, etc.

The one that stuck out to me that I have really examined the importance of recently was that of a sister.  I have always been the eldest sister to two younger beautiful sisters.  I think that because of the fact that I'm older than them I have always been very protective of them.