Judging a Book by Its Cover

I am just an average girl. I'm not high maintenance by any means nor do I think I'm better then anyone else. I do remember being a little judgmental when I was younger though. I'm not really sure where I got this from as my mom was never that way. Or at least I don't remember her being that way. I wasn't one of the popular kids in school either. I did still notice things about people that probably shouldn't have mattered. I didn't know who they were or anything about them so nothing about them should have mattered to me is the way I see it. Once I started college all of this began to change. I became one person in a sea of thousands of college students. There were roughly 37,000 students at the college I attended. I constantly felt as if I was being watched and I hated walking down halls of buildings where students sat, waiting for class to begin.

As I grew older and had children I got better about this. I am so very glad that I did. Had I not I would have missed out on a couple of great friendships. There was this guy that I went to grade school and high school with. Never saw him again after we graduated. About two years ago I saw him on one of my friends myspace pages and I sent him a message to just say hi. I have no idea why I did it. He wasn't someone I ever talked to or hung out with in school. He just really wasn't my type I guess you could say. I figured just because he wasn't my type back then didn't mean we couldn't get along and be friends now. I was amazed at how quickly our friendship took off. We hadn't talked in twelve years or so and here we were talking daily as if we'd been best friends all our lives. It was actually really nice to have someone to talk to that didn't judge me or expect things from me. He was just grateful to have my friendship and that was very nice. I very easily could have said that he wasn't the type of person I would have ever hung around with in high school so why would I now. I could have just left it at that and never said hello. Had I done that, I would have missed out on such a wonderful friendship with a great person!

A little more then a year ago now I decided to go back to work part-time. I had stayed at home since my kids were born and hadn't had a job in almost five years. I was a bit nervous about leaving them with someone, but I didn't want to pass up the opportunity. So I began my search for a sitter. This wasn't easy because I am very picky, as I'm sure any mother is about leaving her kids with someone they don't know. I found a nice website that listed caregivers in the area that you live in and tells you all about them. It had everything there you might want to know so you knew who you might like to contact. I contacted about five people and none of them seemed to fit. Right as I was about to give up and look elsewhere I came across this 23 year old girl that seemed perfect. I contacted her and she was very interested. We emailed back and forth several times before she came over to meet the kids. When she stepped out of her car I wasn't really sure what to think. She was a cute girl, but she had several piercings in places that most people don't have them. She immediately asked me if I had a problem with them and I said no because right in that moment I wasn't sure what to think. She met our kids and spent the evening with us. She had dinner and played with the kids and when it was time for her to leave the kids didn't want her to go. I knew at that point we'd made the right decision. Over the next several months she almost grew to be a part of our family. She and I developed a great relationship and the kids just adored her. I was so very glad that I had taken the time to get to her as opposed to not doing so. If I would have judged her by what I had first seen we would have all missed out on getting to know such a wonderful person! So, never judge a book by its cover.