Today I met up with an old acquaintance. I say "acquaintance" because we only really knew each other through my big brother Chris, right before he moved to Florida. His name is Calvin, and we see each other occasionally at Tech Prep. We say "hi" every time we do, but never really more than that.

Today, however, as I was blankly staring at the road, waiting for the bus, and debating if I should put in my headphones and blare Nine Inch Nails as high as I could stand it, Calvin recognizes my camo bag and black hood, and comes to stand next to me.

He starts off with "Hi" as usual, and then goes on to tell me that he's engaged to his love, Scarlet. Now, I've never met the girl, but I heard them talking on the phone once before Chris moved, and she sounds pretty cool. He goes on to tell me that two and a half weeks after he asked her to marry him, they found out she was pregnant.

Everyone keeps telling him he's screwed and that he should be scared. He says that he knows he's pretty much screwed, and he's scared outta his mind...but he's just so happy about it. He practically ran onto his bus shouting how happy he was to be a Dad...

Then my bus pulled up, and I finally put my headphones on. My MP3 payer was set to random, and the first song that plays is "Some Say" by Sum 41.

My Goth, did it remind me of Calvin. Particularly this verse:

"Think before you make up your mind
You don't seem to realize
I can do this on my own
And if I fall I'll take it all
It's so easy after all..."

Calvin has become, within five minutes, one of the greatest men I've ever known. And he was merely someone that I knew but didn't really know at all. He just got hit with something major that could be potentially dangerous or endearing to his future. He knows it. He accepts it. He's happy. Which just proves that the hardest part is letting go and just taking it all in stride...even though it really is the simplest thing in the world.

It's because of Calvin that I'm giving up on being unhappy just because a few bad things happen. At the end of the world, I'll be smiling, simply because I'll be seeing my happy life pass by my eyes.