"For it’s what's on the inside that counts"

Well I finally got everything done with moving into a new house, and setting down. I am looking forward to going to see a friend that I haven't seen in 13 years. It's amazing how we have managed to keep in touch for so long and not see each other. I will assume that love doesn't need a visual. It’s all a matter of what's on the inside.

Speaking of what's on the inside, I took a small trip outside of Taipei today. Taiwan is quiet amazing when you venture outside the city limits. The air gets cleaner (?!), and the landscape and greenery is astounding. Living in abroad constantly teaches me to have to go beyond the surface to see the "deeper" meaning. It's not that I think everything I encounter has a meaning per se. But my vision, heart and mind, has deepened with each new encounter I have. I’ve learned to see the similarities in people while being able to delight in their uniqueness. It’s a tad ironic, because what comes to mind are few thoughts about how a few foreigners come to Asia with ideas of exoticness dancing in their minds, and the difference aspects of life abroad hits, then some resistance comes up. Lord knows, I have had my share, yet, with each funny and sometimes, frustrating encounter comes up I am for the richer. I have had to learn to take my mother's comment to heart "for it’s what's on the inside that counts"