I have the intense feeling to follow my dreams right now and I think it came from the wonderful, beautiful card Lucy gave to me for my birthday. I opened it tonight and it said: Dear Mary, Happy Birthday! You're 15! I hope you have the best birthday ever and a great year to match because you deserve it. I am so glad we have the opportunity to be such best friends. I always feel very lucky to have you as a friend. We have SO many funny memories- beach trips, "hmmf" with Glenn, recitals, New Year's Eve trivial pursuit games... I know you will be great at all you set out to do. I truly wish you all the best with much success AND fun. I LOVE YOU!!! ~Lucy When I read the card after she handed it to me, I started to tear up, and I felt so stupid. But, it was one of the sweetest things anybody had ever written for me, and I am starting to cry thinking about it right now. Lucy is one of the most wonderful people I have ever met and will ever meet in my life and I love her so much. I don't know what I would do if I ever were to lose our friendship. When she goes to college in two years, I don't know what I will do. She has always been there for me...to give me advice, to protect me, to make me laugh, and to inspire me. Now that I think about it, I am so sad to be growing up...to be leaving the life I have led behind and start a whole new one. I mean, I know I am not going away for a few years, but I just want to enjoy the life I have been having for as long as possible, but I don't have the same life anymore. I am a different person than I was two years ago, and yes, I am chasing my dreams. I don't think there is one day that goes by when I don't think about my future. Which, can sometimes really get on my nerves. But when you think about it, we really are all living our lives to wait. That's all life is really. Waiting for a job, waiting for food, waiting for an audition, waiting for a callback, waiting for a boyfriend, waiting for the bus, waiting for the next song to come on...waiting for death. I am going to spend the rest of my life waiting, and I don't know how I feel about that. I still can't believe I got lucky enough to have Lucy as a friend. She is on of the kindest, most sincere, most talented, most amazing friends I have and I can't imagine where I would be without her always helping me through things. Just thinking about her makes me smile and cry at the same time. I wish she was here to give me a hug right now and tell me to stop being so sappy...haha. Anyway, she gave me some AWESOME gifts for my birthday today. First, she gave me this pretty headband from Luna that I had liked and she bought for me. She gave me the Josh Groban cd, body lotion and body wash from Pout and a makeup compact from Pout as well. It was a really good present! Allison gave me some earrings and a really pretty bracelet that I like. She celebrated my birthday with our parents tonight too at mellow Mushroom. My parents gave me money for New York...yay! Now I think I am at around 500 dollars!!! WOOPEE! Oh yea, another piece of EXCITING news about Lucy! haha. I found out tonight, that the director of the South Carolina Philharmonic Music Director, Nicholas Smith, asked Lucy to go with him to his country house in FRANCE!!! OMG! She is so gonna be famous. And then she better buy me something when she makes her first million from being "piano girl"! Anyway, Nancy and Lucy and Gene are going to Nicholas Smith's country house in France this summer for four nights and the house was built in 1613 or something crazy like that! I am extremely jealous...but on the other hand, I guess I have to be excited for her too...! Well, I can't decide if I am going to make this entry private or not, but I kinda like for people to know what I am feeling without me actually having to tell them, so I think I will make it public. Anyway, I must go to bed and get some sleep. Unlike all those lucky private school people, I have school tomorrow AND monday....poo! Well, good night!