Penny For Your Thoughts

 "Are you going to write about this?" You know, I wasn't going to. I was going to keep it all to myself and keep it in my head and never put it into words. Then, I looked at the pictures and the feeling of being there, in that space, with that presence? It came right back. If I am anything, I am a storyteller. Let me tell you this story. Once upon a time,  there was a girl on a phone call, driving home from a lavender farm. A conversation turned into an invitation,  which turned into plane tickets and packing for a weekend trip. She got on a bus that took her to the plane,  and she went in headfirst  and refused to look back again. She was met with flashing light, a trivia night, a smile, and laughing until her chest felt tight. A round or two of a game  where she had to steal a car, and just having to laugh because she didn’t make it very far. She got on a train the next day, full of vigor in a political sway. She immersed herself in the atmosphere of hot ...

 One of my favorite things about myself is that I'm not stupid. If someone is hinting at something around me, I pick up on it.  It makes communication easier, although not as easy as if people just outright said how they were feeling. That would be the easiest overall. Unfortunately, that's not how this world works. People talk in codes and we are left to decipher each other and play the games and go through the motions. We are forced to learn about each other.  When you look at it as simply learning about another person, the tradeoff seems okay.  Slightly more difficult communication isn't half bad when the tradeoff is learning the heart of another. -Emma Lancaster

 And I'm happier than ever, here in a city where only two people know my name. I have all the freedom in the world, all the time in the day. I can go where I want and spend my time how I wish. I smile at strangers because I will never see them again. Why not have the only interaction be one that they remember with a glow? -Emma Lancaster

 I'm in another airport. This has been the summer of traveling and living out of a suitcase and not calling a single place my home.  I went to my hometown for a day and a half, but it wasn't quite home. Home isn't defined by a place, but instead by a people. Maybe I'm traveling across the country so much to find my home. Maybe where the river meets the ocean. Just one more flight today. -Emma Lancaster

"Have you ever had someone look at you and felt like your skin was on fire?" Because between the two of you, once upon a time,  there was a flame, there was a desire. He kept you up at night, and you stayed on his mind all day. When your eyes lock  from across the room, "This time is the last time." Does it stand true? -Emma Lancaster

 Once upon a time,  the storm of a lifetime hit her hometown. And what did she do? She stole her sister's shoes and went to fling open  the front door.  The wind pushed back, and tried to keep that door shut, but the wind  wildly underestimated  the force of a woman who within herself embodies the storm. -Emma Lancaster

 It's been a while. I always take breaks from writing when I am living, instead.  Recently, I've done a lot of reflection on the differences between who I was a year ago and who I am right now.  A year ago, I was insecure. I was heartbroken, and lost, doing my best to stop gagging randomly throughout the day and trying to distract myself before bed so I wouldn't cry until I fell asleep. Today, I feel like I am glowing. I feel confident in myself and my abilities, I've been sunkissed and toned by a job that I love, I have the most wonderful people in my life, I learned how to flirt again, how to make spaghetti for one, how to dye my hair pink, and how to appreciate a good Taylor Swift song. I'm not the same person that I was a year ago, and God, what a relief that is.  I taught myself to breathe again.  The funny thing is, once you can breathe, you can run and nothing can stop you. -Emma Lancaster