Dear Future Jaden,

You may not remember me. The girl with the glossy eyes and dark haunted thoughts, but perhaps you do remember and try your hardest to keep your distance me. What ever the case maybe, I dream that you are better. I wish that you live fearlessly and passionately. You have spent too many years of your life in a dark depression. You DESERVE to be happy. Even if I do not see it now, I hope you see clearly eventually.


There is one thing I must stress above all other. FOLLOW YOUR DREAM. I have the highest hopes and aspirations for you. Stop being shy! Spread your wings and reach for what you want. You will never get anywhere by staying in your comfort zone. Speak for what you need and desire. The world will not stop spinning if you tell people what you want. YOU HAVE A CHOICE IN YOUR DESTINY.


My greatest wish is that one day I will understand how special life is. Hopefully you have reached that point in our journey of life. Do not look back at the sad shadow of a girl we use to be, Look forward to the beautiful women we are still creating.

Rejection

GUYS I MADE A BOOK

El conejito mucho hambre

by Jaden Cataldo

Live and forgive.

For a while, I was angry
I even hated you for being away
Most of all, I missed the person I never knew
I knew very much that it was not my fault,
And I never blamed this on myself
Because it was your choice to leave
You knew all too well that you messed up,
You knew what you did was wrong,
You knew exactly why you lost everything, as so you say
Time healed my wounds,
and the many questions
Then you came back
Thirteen years later
You.
Came.
Back.
I was not thrilled with the situation as some would expect.
Neither was my family
Or even my friends
They say "the past is the past" but I could not look at you the same way I did in my imagination
I know I should forgive you
And please understand that I am trying to get past it.
But something's take more than an apology and going out for ice cream.

What is Love?

   Love and Companionship are two basic human needs. We all want to feel loved and needed in other peoples lives. Some may be fortunate enough to have many different relationships in their lives. I am lucky enough to have an amazing boyfriend, great bestfriends and two wonderful dogs as my companions.
   I met my boyfriend, Matthew, the first day of my freshman year at ECHS and we have been together ever since. I am very lucky that I have found someone who sees past my flaws and loves me unconditionally. I can tell him anything and I know he will still see me as the same person. He has been my rock when life gets hard and I rely on his company more than anything.
   Matthew and my best friends Kayla, Odette and Jamie are always here for me whether I am right or wrong they stand by my side and fight for me. My friends keep me smiling and always help me see the bright side of life. They genuinely care about my well being. They are so important to me and I could not live without them.
   At the end of the day when I am home alone by other best friends are there. My dogs, Jamoga and Penny Lane. I believe that people rely on pets so much because love is blind to them. Pets do not judge on flaws or on physical appearance  They love their owners because their owners love them. They love wholeheartedly and unconditionally
    I am so grateful that I have MANY people in my life that love me and care about me. I could not imagine life without them

Responaiblty

Responsibility is a trait not many people have, but many people learn to accept as they become older. Children for example, do not know when to take responsibility for their actions because they do not want to face the consequences  I believe that once a "child" becomes old enough to help themselves they should be held accountable for their actions. If they lie or do something wrong they should step up and say that they did not make the right choice. Same rule applies for adults; For example, adult B walks by adult A, who is homeless and begging on the street, who is at fault? I believe that A is mostly at fault for a number of reasons. One, because person A has gotten themselves into the situation. Two, because they are not strong enough to help themselves out of the situation. This is not to be said that they did not have hardships that brought them there, but they should try there hardest to get their life back on track. As for person B, they also have some responsibility in the situation. They could, and should, be the bigger person and stop and help the homeless man\woman. Unfortunately many people do not stop to help homeless people on the street. Although, we as human beings have certain responsibilities to other humans, such as helping in times of need. No matter what the situation is, we need to step up and take responsibility for our actions and others, even if we have nothing to do with the situation.

Butterfly Garden

A project that I spent a lot of time on would have to be my Bronze Award for Girl Scouts. There are 3 different "prestigious" awards girls can  accomplish in Scouting. First, the Bronze Award for Junior Girl Scouts. (4-5th Grade). Second the Silver Award for Cadette Girl Scouts (6-8th Grade) and finally the Gold Award for Senior and Ambassador Girl Scouts (9-12 Grade). I was in 5th grade when I first started my Bronze Award project. There are MANY guidelines and regulations to meet while completing these awards. Such as how many hours a person/troop has to contribute and if a person has to work independently inside or outside of Girl Scouts. I worked within my troop, which means we all completed the award together. We decided that we would make a butterfly garden at Camp Timberlane, our "home" Girl Scout camp in Wakeman. Although there were other Troops also using the garden as a Bronze Award, there was A LOT of hard work to do. First we cleared out the area that camp told us we could put the garden at. Then we had to spread out giant mounds of soil and mulch that the grounds keeper, Ed, dumped there for us. At the time the piles were taller than I was. After spreading all of the dirt out,  Ed took my troop out to a local field that was over grown with wild flowers. We got to choose what type of flowers we wanted to put in the garden. A very close Girl Scout friend, Sunny, helped us chose what flowers attracted more butterflies. Then we got planting! My troop had a fairly large section of the garden to work with, so the whole project took months to complete, but it paid off once it was done. At the end of it all the garden was beautiful. We made stepping stones with all of our names and Troop number to line the paths in the garden. Finally we had a large ceremony with our families so they could see us be pinned with our Bronze Awards. I am very proud of all the hard work I put into the garden, although now it is overgrown and filled with weeds... I plan to go back this summer and help put life back in the garden again.