True.

You felt like vacation
Like a window opened in another room
Like my favorite pair of well worn jeans
Like the color of a smile in a half remembered dream

You felt like anticipation

You did everything right
Laid your best cards before cynicism could have its way
Winning the edges of my heart till warmth overcame my will to fight

to fight what I could not see
The pain of becoming the girl who's disgrace is feeling a small ache for a man who is suddenly now tied to an internal vow to keep.

You cut me with duty
You burned me with your re-emerging hope for yesteryears tomorrow.
I cannot rival chivalry nor argue with nobility; you've chosen to be true and I cannot help but believe that beauty will follow you for the honor that you've sown.

But I never thought I'd be here.
I was led into a secret grove before the bold lettered "Do Not Enter" was plastered on every tree trunk.
There were no lines that I crossed, yet I am left feeling like I must flee and escape in the dark of the night before the dawn uncovers the shamed whispers of my heart...

Just remember I did not stand in the way when your history reached for your hand and you told me you couldn't stay. I only hope I acted as a bridge that helped you along the way.

That which is joined together let no one separate.
Let no one separate.
Let no one separate.
Let no one separate.
I will not separate.
I did not separate.

Aloud.

Yesterday words crept from my lips and freed themselves before I had the chance to see mutiny in my midst. The thought came out in a quiet hush, but it felt much more like a shout

"I think I'm happy..."

My fears tumbled over one another, dog piling all the reasons why I never should have said such a careless thing out loud.

"What if it's just the weather? What if tomorrow remembers the despair?"

"You shouldn't be happy, you're still so crippled and unsure! There's still so much to work on.. what if you're just avoiding the truth of all the ugly that still lives here?"

"Is that even fair? Is it even ok?"

"You never say it out loud... Don't you know that!? Everyone knows that..."

A handful of words uttered within a square foot space in time and my mind had already retraced its steps and censured the rumors trickling from my heart's moment of blithe.

Something will go wrong, it always does!

I've been weeping at the tombstones scattered across my cemetery of dreams, waiting for a moment to slow my weighted breaths. Hasn't Spring withheld its face, Winter crowding my space, till now?

There's something terribly wrong when the flicker of happiness is scarier than that of harrowing grief.

But here I am and I can't remember the last time I felt like this; my heart swelling much like when the ocean violently kisses the edge of the highest cliff!

Despite being utterly aware of how very unfinished and rough my heart remains, I can't help but be so in love with resting within simplicity and the body of this process. It has induced joy that I've not known for years; smiling in the colorful silence and basking in this peaceful calm.

My life is not without pain or trouble; havoc has burrowed in and claimed its place for a season whom's end I cannot predict. But while there is a very slight chance that I've developed a stomach ulcer due to the anxiety and stress that seems to be preying on my subconscious, I am far more than merely surviving. My heart can be found at ease more often than not.
I've simply decided that I refuse to be defined, and confined, by trauma and chaos.

Instead I will learn what it means to live in simplicity and wonder.
I will relish the little things such as walking to market and buying fruits and vegetables from local farmers, and learning how to cook/prepare said vegetables.
I will listen to new stories and adore the hearts that breathe them, choosing to look deeper than word on the street and the branding mistakes behind them.
I will take the time to enjoy the process of stretching to touch the edges of fluidity, and then the moments when in some cases I may land in solidarity.
I will not fear the threat of possible mistakes, but rather embrace the battles lost and the battles that I will have the privilege to courageously face.
I will laugh often and dance like a four year old at any time of day, because I can.
I will have fun.


I am happy... and I will say it out loud.

On the sixtieth day.

It's been two months since I picked up and tore myself away from Philly and moved back to Lancaster.
Although terrifying at the time, I've been overwhelmed by how wonderful people have been in my return.
When I felt the gentle push to move back to Lancaster and leave the place that I had come to know as home, a huge part of me was devastated. My apartment had been my safe place when every other "home" I had known fell to pieces. I had settled my heart in the warmth and made a home for myself.
Only six months before I moved I had told myself that I'd never move back to Lancaster because it wasn't home anymore. It only felt like a friend that had betrayed me and I wasn't prepared to trust it with my heart anytime soon. I should have known that I'd have to go back to make peace with the pain and anger that it held for me.
It wasn't just what Lancaster had "done" to me, it was who I'd become in a years time and the question of how the new and messier me would fit in the old space I had occupied before in everyone eyes, including mine. I was afraid of not measuring up to even just the old me. I was afraid of being seen in all of my "ugly."

It's been a battle to remember that no man or woman's approval defines me. That my name will be spoken ill of and that it's not always my job to jump up and clear it. I'm learning what it means to live and love abundantly with no need to prove anything. In all of this I think I've actually already made peace with Lancaster... I'm as content as I can be at this point in my journey and taking one day at a time, enjoying the process. I miss my Philly home and community, but I'm at rest where I am for now.

Truly, I can't help but be incredibly full of gratitude for how my needs have been provided for...

I have a warm and wonderful home, living with hearts much like mine; beautifully broken and on the journey of discovery and truth.

I have a job that I absolutely love! I get to do things that I thoroughly enjoy every day and pay my bills doing it. My bosses treat me well and make me feel valued and cared for. My co-workers are vibrant characters who've instantly welcomed me as another misfit in the Square One family.

I have a community that quickly enveloped me, refusing to see me walk alone.

As painful as this years discoveries and truths have been, I've been blessed enough to have people who will love me through it and encourage me to keep putting one foot in front of the other.

I am thankful. True story.

The Wait.

                   What is it to exist within a space defined by the tension of waiting?

        What focal point do you find and call yours when courage lingers too long at the feet of last years collapse?

         Are the colors that paint the sounds of contentment held only for a select few or do they drip upon any who seek to test them with brushes of their own?

         Is hope true if it's more than blindly believing that the continual underlying sadness must eventually lead into a more authentic state of happiness?

         At what point will I no longer feel as if I only tarry for another day longing for the ache to be eased?



Tell me, are the edges of the distant reality harsher than the worst of my dreams?



         I own far more questions than answers; ruining my chances with stillness and the pursuit of a quiet mind. Thoughts run wild and stir the dust settled on blurry consciousness, yet my heart is colder than I recall it ever being before.

        I siphon warmth from the beautifully unsuspecting while dressed in mirrors meant to convince them that they're receiving what they've been giving. I betray my own love and its beating heart with every moment of hiding behind my fear that beauty might never look my way nor utter my name.
I beg you, do not withhold your disgust! Please make me try my own patience... My depravity's deception I, above all, silently abhor.


          But I am afraid of closed doors and even more so of the forgotten memories that might live behind them.
          I am afraid of the predicted letdown that plagues the excitement within the unknown, but more than that I fear the disappointment's propensity to thicken the walls I've been tearing at for years.
          I am afraid that my waiting may be ever prolonged by tomorrows discovery and yesterdays truths.
         I am afraid that I will never change and that my dreams will remain the same and never touch my reality.


I hope to make a mockery of these fears... After all, what are fears but mere shadows that must flee at dawns light?


For that, I'll wait as long as it takes.

Unhinged.

This... this courage knows no shame;
till its jekylle borrows time in a panicked attempt to save face. It thrives on the chance to risk it all for even just one moment of unmitigated sense.

But wasn't this the original sin? To speak before I think, to feel before its safe?

This... this is nothing like me.

I'm the archaic walls built higher than your will to climb.
I'm the promise that your heart will break well before mine.
I'm the distance that I'll run before your inch takes a mile.
I'm the lie that claims indifference masquerading with an elusive smile.
I'm the symptoms of a little heart with too many ancient inner vows to keep.

I'm the surprise that sees a crack in the hardened shell of concrete.
I'm changing it seems.

This... this terrifies me.

Shackle my confessions to the roof of my mouth, stop these floodgates from impulsively rushing out.
Dare me to be silent, dare my heart to recall solitary confinement, dare me to use my better judgement.

Anything but this...

Daily wars are waged in the caverns of my soul; my pride seeking to protect at all cost, my heart begging to feel and count all as loss.

This... I think this might kill me.

Wake.

There is a silence that breathes louder than my distractions and it's living in my numb.
I feel words but they cannot find my lips; they gather like the autumn leaves upon my doorstep.

Comatose.

I float, alive and weightless, above the truths of my reality in the hopes that they will disappear.
They have not.

Linger longer near these terrors and you'll come to understand my listless air. Yet, there are no excuses I can hold tightly; I am wholly responsible for my current disrepair. I see my faults more plainly than these lines that define my weathered hands. I could run from these fears forever, but I cannot escape their source within me.

Here's that moment where I wrestle a "yes" from this hearts beating breath; trapping my fleeting feet beneath duty and raw hunger. Give me a few seconds to collect courage and dim the lights on my souls childish outrage and I promise I'll begin.

Begin to turn and run towards the fears conceived in pain.
Begin to feel enough to have to choose to forgive.
Begin to remember what an unguarded heart even sounds like.

I will begin.

To the first.

All your letters... I finally let them go.
I remember the time when I thought I'd never have to and that it was ok to hold onto them for memories sake, but yesterday a different point of view found me.

I took the time to carefully read each one... my fingers feeling the familiar textures of the different types of papers you used for each letter and note.
I saw the moments that accompanied each word.
I heard your voice bending to the inflection of your thoughts in each phrase.
I felt the sparkle in your eyes as if you were standing right there bleeding your love onto the pages.
I wasn't just reading and remembering your letters; I was reading and remembering you.

I let my wounds and their protest drift far from my mind in that moment and I chose to remember you.

Just you.

Not the pain, not the conflict; only you.
And within that window in time I loved you as you were... where we were.

But this time was different because I didn't want to go back.
I wanted to remember you well, to remember you beautiful... And I did.
But I realized that after months of begging my soul to forget you, my heart had finally made its way back to me.
Suddenly there's room for something new and I no longer ache for you.

My tears fell freely upon the pages in my lap and I felt the weight of that defining moment. I could have wept as each one slipped from my fingers into the grossly undistinguished trash bag assigned to the ending of this process.

As I started to breathe in the new borders to this season that I'm entering, I knew that I couldn't take these pieces of you with me. You can't be the memorial that I run to when I feel scared and alone.
As I pack my life and my memories away to see a new time and space, I quietly lay you aside and whisper my goodbye.

I don't believe that I'll ever forget you...
But this is where I make room for all things new.
This is where I take one more step of letting you go completely.
This isn't where I bitterly get over you; this is where I peacefully move on.

This is where my love goes free.