Emotional Breakdowns, at Wee Hours in the Morning.

"If you lack purpose you don't touch that many people. And you can touch people through tragedy far better than you can by having a perfect life."

"No person matures by himself. We have all had someone who reached down and picked us up when we couldn't manage to rise on our own. We have all been carried. I know i have been."

"Whatever will be, will be."

"..Every person is like a painting. When you come in contact with another life, that individual dabs a little bit of color onto your soul. It isn't always a color you like, but even ugliness provides its own lessons."

"Pain happens to everyone. To grow up, to fulfill your potential, to develop what God wants you to be--this process takes support. No one succeeds alone."

"What you wear doesn't matter, who you are does."

"To handle yourself, use your head. To handle others, use your heart."

"Give people a chance to be the best they can. Think well of someone and see if they rise to the occasion."

"You fight with the people you love the most. You don't fight with people you don't trust or respect--or whom you barely know. Those people may up and leave and never let you have the chance to win the argument. You could actually alienate them if you pick a fight."

"A clean conscience is a soft pillow. As long as you live right, you won't have to worry about what people see."

"Life is a dance you learn as you go."

"Blood isn't always thicker than water."

"I will never forget where I came from. My family wouldn't let me."

"I chose not to mourn, but to sing."

"You can't force people to feel things they aren't willing to feel. Not everyone will love you the way you want them to. I learned this lesson early, but everyone learns it eventually."

"People are lonely because they build walls instread of bridges."

"Use disappointment as material for patience."

"I got it all. But, the thing is, the more I took it, the less I cared."

"..Stuff is going to happen to you that you wish wouldn't. People are going to treat you badly, and ultimately that is out of your control."

"Just let it roll off, and I did. I knew the other option wasn't for me. I was not going to hurt somebody else."

"God gave everybody a calling and he gave you a voice. He gave you a talent and you need to use the talent He gave you."

"You sing like you're aiming for the rafters."

"You've already joined passion with ability."

"And when I see her, she always reminds me of the power of music, of her belief that singing allows all of us to feel passion, to be connected in a fundamental way, that there is a reason every culture makes music, that there is a need in this world for song."

"You have a one-in-a-million voice, kiddo."

"I remember this everytime I sing: how it is essential to hear your calling, and how it sometimes takes a person you barely knowto help you find your own voice."

"To make it through life, you need faith to cling to."

"And my other son is going to be a famous singer one day. He has the most beautiful voice."

"The Lord sometimes takes us into troubled water not to drown us, but to cleanse us."

"Let's go wake up the neighbors."

"So the next letter I write, I'm telling him the truth: that I need him. That he matters. It may be mushy, but I'm okay with that."

"Abuse can go either way. You can decide you're going to be the same as the person who hurt you, or you can decide you're better than that, and that you're going to survive."

"And that's when I decided, I'm going to stop worrying about everybody else."

"It took years, but I determined, finally, that it would probably be easier to be the person I was meant to be than to rework my personality in order to make an impact on someone else. It wasn't a complicated notion."

"Brian never knew what he did for me. But he changed my life. He changed my life because he dared to live his."

"Lord please don't let him unleash his wrath inside, in front of all these nice people waiting to get their 'pizza pizza.'"

"She didn't want me to waste tears on people she deemed unworthy. She didn't have patience for people who were afraid of looking life in the face. She was strong. So she forced me to be stronger. She dragged me out of self-pity."

"Take risks. Stand up for what you believe in. Imagine what can be."

"Some bridges cannot be rebuilt. Tragedies happen. And blame gets passed around."

"I see now that you cannot take loved ones for granted, that the people you cound on may not always be around. I understand also that the people you care about don't alway behave in the ways you expect they will--for better or worse."

"We're watching you. We're proud of you."

"He had changed. He had overcome."

"I know you cannot win every battle. Not every child can be saved. But this does not give you and excuse not to try. If you quit, all is lost. In the end, you can't give up on people, because you never know what marvel lies underneath."

"I know how easily you can stumble off the path if you look in the mirror instead of looking ahead."

"Kids with autism show you how to deal with humanity. No two children with autism are alike; they're individuals--individuals to the extreme. So they teach you to see people as separate, rather than as part of a group with a set of expectations for that group. They also teach you to have ridiculous amounts of patience. And how to duck."

"..That if you institue policies of inclusion, inclusion becomes ordinary. That when you are forced to rub elbows with people you might not automatically choose to, everyone benefits. That hate is based on fear of the unknown, and fear dissipates with exposure. It evaporates like dew in the midday sun. That when you believe in kids, they will never, ever let you down."

"I'm learning how to wait. That's what happens when you work with kids."

"Children with disabilities never tell you what they plan to throw are you. It could be a block, a brick, a live mouse. You have to be prepared for anything and grateful for the smallest progress. Whenever I feel adrift, I think back to the kids I used to teach."

"Children in even the most devastating circumstances still smile. They still laugh and reach out to others. They still trust. They still try."

"Fate is a funny thing."

"Meeting that family was one of those rare moments of alchemy that spring up in your life and alter it forever.

"I was planning to teach in the classroom. I am still teaching. My classroom has just gotten a lot bigger."

"And this time, it was special in a good way."

"I had no reason to think I would be rewarded for my choice to be my own geek. But, miraculously, I was."

"Everybody's got flaws."

"Singing wasn't this unusual little interest that set us apart; it was what we shared."

"When you can say with confidence that you gave your best, there is really no point in beating yourself up after the fact. I learned that when you try your best, you can't really feel that bad when you fail. And the more you laugh at yourself, the less it hurts when someone else does it."

"The truth is, I have a real fear of looking like an idiot--and intrinsic, disproportionate fear."

"If strangers were proud of me, then why the heck couldn't I be proud of myself?"

"You're right. Looks don't matter. Self-respect does."

"Nobody is a saint, and if I had a halo it would be crooked."

"I am thankful mainly that they continue to teach me what counts. My fans show me a better way to use my fame. My fans keep me real."

"After that, God must have decided I needed to learn a few more lessons, because since then, whatever life plan I thought was going to happen bit the dust. I can accept that."

"There is something special about your voice. A quality."

"It's hard to know who means well and who doesn't. It makes it all the more important that you stay true to yourself."

"I missed her too. I missed my old life."

"But I love seeing people joyful. It's great to witness the effects of the music. It makes the long drive to the next city that much easier when I know that it will matter to people that I am coming to sing."

"I've found that it doesn't matter where you grow up; if you can dream it, you can achieve it."

"I was performing just the other night and I looked out and I saw this sea of cheery, singing faces. I heard their voices ringing, a giant swell of sound. I said to myself, 'That's acceptance, you know. That is one big hello.'"

"And I said to myself, I wonder if I'm making this young girl's day as much as it would've made mine to sing with Martina McBride. When she finished and left the stage, her friends circled her, jumping and squealing. My heart swelled. It moved me just to know that there are people out there who have bothered to memorize my songs. To me, that's unbelievable."

"In my church in Raleigh, the congregatoin used to say, 'Make sure you just your voice for the Lord.' I feel that is what I'm doing. And I will continue it until the Lord tells me to pipe down."

"I've never known anybody who had no faith. I'm not sure how they get through the day."

"And I think that's what I feel most thankful for--that I have the opportunity to minister now, in my own way."

"Faith is not something I could ever give up on. I don't want to push anything in your face, but if you choose to look at religion and ask questions, I'm going to tell you what I think about it. I'm going to share what I believe without shame, but I'm going to strive to keep you from feeling uncomfortable or wrong about your own convictions. It's not my job to judge someone; it's not my job to mandate what someone else thinks or believes."

"God never closes one door without opening another."

"True joy comes from service, not from acquistion."

"The smallest good deed is better than the grandest intention."

"There is no better exercise for strengthening the heart than reaching down and lifting people up. The Bubel/Aiken Foundation is the culmination of that realization. It is my purpose now. It is the why of me."

"When I look back, the dots connect so clearly. It's hard to imagine that anything could have happened any differently."

"I know now that all of these even and epiphanies have resulted from provident direction. True happiness depends upon close alliance with God."

"Who is to say that people will remember me? But if they do, then I plan to be remembered for having shared any success I was fortunate enough to experience with as many people as I could."

"My goal is to be triumphant in using where I am to do something bigger than what I am."

"When I look back, I realize that God placed me into ever situation that led me here. He introduced me into each one of those settings so that He could help shape me into a better servant. I didn't get this singing voice to make myself famous and rich. I got it to become a better messenger."

"Ego is a powerful foe. But so far, I think I'm winning."

"I believe that in every life there is a song to be sung. Go. Find your voice. Then open up your mouth and set your song free."

"Never regret the past but learn from it."

"Don't lose sight of your dreams, for as long as you dream, there is hope."

"Keep believing in yourself. If you do, so will everyone else."

"Love others and as you do, that love will return to you."

"Failing doesn't hurt. Not trying does."

"Keep on the sunny side of life."

"Make a joyful noise."

"The greatest glory never comes from winning, but from rising each time you fall."

"A person is defined by what he chooses to do with his life, not by what happens to him."

"Musice produces feelings that need no translation."

"A song is like a smile."

"Her voice wasn't trained, but it was beautiful. It made me feel things. It showed me how a song can be more than words and music, how when sung with soul a song carries you to another world, to a place where no matter how much pain you feel, you are never alone."