unreal

I need to be pinched. My life has felt UNREAL lately. You know when everything is going well, and you are getting everything you want? Yeah? Me neither. I'm not complaining, my life is pretty grand in many ways, but it still shocks me when the stars align sometimes. In my head I am still that girl who wore sneakers that were too big for her, whose jeans were baggy in the butt in middle school, and who had braces far too long into high school. Popular girls made fun of me for bringing my lunch in a cooler. (Maybe I deserved that...) 


But reality has a way of changing. I'm 26 now. I was recently elected president of my grad program. I just saw a press release about some volunteer work I did in the Dominican Republic on the school's website. My friend sent me some gorgeous photos she took of me over the holidays. I think I am going to Africa for the summer. (Fingers crossed.) I'm growing up. Or maybe, I am just growing into those shoes that were too big for me when I was 16. I needed time to learn who I was and what I wanted and how to make that happen. Suddenly, and surprisingly, it's happening. 


"Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh never mind, You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You're not as fat as you imagine."


"Whatever you do, Don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself too much either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's." 


-Baz Luhrmann