Scrapbooking Life

I am a memory collector. It's a little bit like scrapbooking. You find the prettiest pictures, the coolest souveniers, and you arrange them on the page in a way that captures a moment of your life.
I don't actually take many pictures or save many little souvenirs, but in my head I have an epic scrapbook of all the little moments of my life that make me glad I'm alive.

I tend to have mood swings. I'm either really happy and hyper or depressed and on the verge of (or having) a breakdown.
When I'm feeling depressed, feeling drowned beneath all the pressures of life, I generally break down and cry. (This almost always happens at home, though. I hold off breakdowns if I feel them coming on during school, and wait till I'm alone to cry.) Sometimes it takes a really long time, but when I dry away my tears, there's always something that makes me reach into that dusty corner of my mind and take out the scrapbook of all the good times I've had.

Little things, like a song I sang with someone, a note someone wrote me, a random drawing someone did, an epic book discussion, a cast of characters, a shared conspiracy, a rant, a compliment, a card, a story, a secret, a joke, a smile, a promise, a word; these things are what make life worth it.

In the end, when it comes down to it, your life won't be measured in what grades you got in school, how popular you were, how many boyfriends you had, what college you went to, or how much money you have.
It will be measured in how many smiles you shared.
How many lives you touched.
How many happy memories are in the scrapbook of your life.