"When you grow up you realize that there isn't really any Santa but the monsters are still around. If only they were big and hairy; now they're just dark and amorphous, and they're no longer afraid of the light. Sometimes they're the guy who climbs in the window and takes your television. And sometimes they're the guy who walks out the front door with your heart in his hand and never comes back. And sometimes they're the job or the bank or the husband or the boss or just that sort of dark heavy feeling that sits between your shoulder blades like a backpack. There are always terrible things waiting to grab you by the ankle, to pull you under, to get you with their long horrible arms. And you lie in bed and look at the shadows on the ceiling and feel, under the covers, just for a moment, like you're safe. One more day alive."

-Anna Quindelin

This is one of my favorite quotes. There are monsters every where, waiting to grab you. You never know what the monster will come in the form of. Life is full of these situations, and the only way to handle it is by tackling them straight on. There isn't away around them. And you certainly can't hide from them, safely protected by your covers, anymore. And as you go through life, the monsters keep getting bigger are uglier. Except, they don't appear that way on the outside. The monsters actually may look very appealing; They become harder to detect until they're right on top of you.

As most may have guessed, life has been that monster for me these past few months. And every night as I crawl under my covers, I am thankful I made it through one more day. I may be bruised and some what beyond repair, but I made it through. I keep pushing forward and battle against the monsters as they come along. Oh and boy do they come one right after the other. I can't give up and surrender: I have to keep inching forward. Perhaps one day the monsters wont seem as big or as scary, and I wont have to fight them off by myself.