Independence is a wonderful thing. It is also a very precious gift to have.

I was working the other night, I was getting everyone relaxed so that they would have a good nights sleep. I was preparing for the next day, which consisted of 3 weddings and a family reunion. The guys were going to one of the weddings. I made sure that there shirts were well pressed, and that they all shaved. I said goodnight to each of them as I was heading off to bed. As I open the door to one of there rooms, I see he is still watching some t.v. and I let him know that it will be a long day for him tomorrow and he should get some sleep.

He looks at me, puts his hand up and says,"I'm a big man Jessica, I'm a big man."

He caught me off guard.

All I could do was smile and think to myself, "he is a big man, a grown man."

That night, he found his voice. I feel honoured to have been there for that moment.

12:20 p.m.

We were coming back from an Eskimos game. You could hear the rumbling of the thunder, telling us that it would be here soon. The lightning was extraordinary! I was working that night, we were on the bus home. One of the guys I work with was sitting in front of me. He had his headphones on, and he was rocking out to Garth Brooks. He kept doing something with his hand. facing it palm up and lifting it towards the ceiling of the bus very slowly. I was confused, was he doing it as a way of dancing to the song? I looked out the window, a flash of lightning appears through the sky. Out of the corner of my eye I see him quickly move his hand upwards and back towards his body. I look at him and he is smiling. In his mind, he is in control of the lightning.

In his mind, he is in control. What a wonderful thing.

11:10 a.m.

The other day as my brother and I were driving back to his place, I noticed something happening on the corner. I looked closer, there were two tall boys wrestling around. They had another boy, who was signifcantly smaller in a headlock. For a split second I had to make a decision. I hammered on the brakes and did a U-Turn in the middle of a road I am pretty sure I am not supposed to. I flew down the road and stopped the car right in front of them. I yelled," Hey, leave that kid alone!"

They all looked at me and began to laugh. I was shaking, full of adrenaline. I looked at the little boy and I asked him if he was okay. He nodded yes, and began to laugh some more. As I drove off still vibrating from all the excitment, I was thinking. There are people out there that think bullying is a joke. That it's funny. This disturbs me.

When I was young, my brother and I were bullied, we were teased. I know the pain that can come from other people's words. I take it seriously.

What's sad is how many times I must have driven by something like that before and thought, "poor kid, reminds me of when I was little," and just kept on driving. If I had not seen a presentation about bullying and teasing would I have turned around?

Would you have turned around?

10:53 a.m.