Have you ever stopped to consider just how many lives you touch in the course of a lifetime? How about in a year? Month? You may not even realize that you ARE touching a life, after all, you're just living your own life the best that you can. But there are those precious times when you are touched by others around you, through thoughtful words or actions, or even just their presence, and that can stay with you for the rest of your life.

Each school year I think about things of this nature. I realize that the friendships that I've made in the classes that I've taken may not carry over into the rest of the years ahead. That doesn't demean the relationships in any way, but instead creates a sort of unique kinship...a bond formed by a common thread for only a few months, yet creates a lasting and respectful brush against a beautiful person and spirit.

Touching people around you doesn't need to be so profound. In fact, more times than not, it isn't. Often it's in the kind smile as your eyes meet a homeless man, seeing him and not looking through him. Perhaps it is in the simple motion of allowing a car merge ahead of you in heavy traffic, or even stopping to allow someone to cross the street. Simple and small gestures are truly what life is all about. Oh sure, we tend to remember the big things in our lives - the mountains. But we forget that it's the small hills that eventually make the mountains what they are, so large and grandiose.

Remember, as you head off into the rest of your week, to take care of the mannerisms that you set forth, the examples that you set for your children, or those around you. It is those small, cherished moments, that can last forever to someone else.