Penny For Your Thoughts

 For my 16th birthday, my friends came over and we wreaked havoc on my parents' house in the most epic Nerf gun battle you could ever imagine.  One of the best hugs of my life was when I could finally see my friends again during the summer of 2020. The hardest I've ever laughed was riding in the back of a van, looking at Christmas lights, and noticing that the star at the top of the tree only had four points.  Before He Cheats makes me think of being a kid in the high school music department, singing my heart out to a song that didn't apply to me yet, before taking the stage. Culver's makes me think of the night we found out that our friends were finally dating. The Fault in Our Stars makes me think of pencil annotations and sweetness. I was pranked, and my locker was filled to the brim with plastic water bottles. We all learned the Footloose dance for a show. Every time I see a VR headset, I think of basement hangouts and Five Nights at Freddy's games. The mention ...

 To those who are friends, hello again. To friends from times past, I miss you. How are you? To the people I met in the first week of college, I've been cheering for you from here. To those I knew in high school, I'm cheering for you too. To those I knew in middle and grade school, look how far we've come.  To those who throughout the years have called me weird, I thank you because I am. To those who thought that I was not pretty or anywhere near it, know that beauty cannot define you or me. To those who whispered under their breath when I dared to be brave, be smart, I hope you've learned to use your voice in strength and for good. To those who picked apart my Instagram, did you find what you were looking for? To those who laughed behind my back, where is your true joy now? To those who saw me belittled, iced out, ignored, but did not speak up or to me, I understand why you saved yourselves. To those who watched my weight decline and saw the light leave my eyes, I prom...

 His face is becoming that of the man that my children will love and less of that which I fell in love with as a child myself. His features aren't as soft as they used to be, a bit more rugged and sharp, cut by the edges of one's early 20s. He's taller and broader, with a few days' shadow of stubble on his face that suggests that he's been too weathered to shave yet this week. His eyes, though, are unchanging and youthful and as joyous as they have been this whole time. Though time has molded the shapes of the boy I loved then into the man I love now, time has not changed the single quarter of brown in his eye that is so unique to him. Cheers to the man of hours, to our love, and to our lives. -Emma Lancaster

To move back into the bedroom you moved out of three years ago; To see friends you haven't seen in years; To talk about the friendship you left behind because you were being hurt; To see pictures of what was and know it wasn't love; To see engagement rings on friends at an age younger than your own; To listen to a playlist of summer flashbacks that take you to 5, 6, 7 years ago; These things are to remember love. These things are to remember why you left. These things are to rediscover home. -Emma Lancaster

 How poetic is it that the Holy Father's last day on Earth was spent in a celebration of the resurrected life? It was spent with others. He probably knew he was dying and spent the day addressing the people and being among them. He lived to serve. He perfectly lived the name of "Francis." He was a proponent of love in this world. -Emma Lancaster

What do you do When that was supposed to wreck you And it simply Just  Didn't? When you've felt too much before So you can't feel anymore And the news simply Just  Drops? When your heart begins to shatter In a familiar pattern And your eyes are simply Just Dry? -Emma Lancaster

 And just like that, It's a rainy Sunday morning and you wake up to the love of your life bringing you breakfast in bed, cartoons playing softly in the background of that cozy, warm room where nothing matters but the fact that your whole heart is living, breathing, and sitting next to you. What a beautiful little life you have. -Emma Lancaster

 Day Seven Hundred and Six: My lovely little self who was so broken but healing, I'd like to appreciate her.  She worked so hard to heal from what hurt. Today, I am proud of her. My most interesting stories are not about boys I dated in high school. My biggest accomplishments are truly worth celebrating, as they came from hard work. I have picked the next step for my life and the person I'd like to step into it with. I'm trying so hard to have a relationship with God. I am working every day to find the good, just as I started to nearly two years ago. I am not perfect and I never will be, but they never lie to you when they tell you that things will get better. Today, I danced to songs from the 70s because I wanted to. -Emma Lancaster

 twenty one, you've just begun. but let me say, i'm proud. you're taking time and ignoring lies and you love feeling the sun. -Emma Lancaster