Been a While

Its taken me a long time to want to write.
I didn't know what to say or even how to say it.
I guess being honest would be a good way to go,
But you all really wouldn't believe how naive you all have been.

The demons I fight everyday are not demons people want to hear about.
Most people couldn't even imagine them anyways.

The demons come in the form of people too.
If you didn't already know.

They come in the form of people who lie, hurt others, and will do anything to feel better above everyone else.

I've fought these demons for so long.
I thought I had an army of people willing to help me....

I was wrong.

The Lovely Tone

And the hardest part of life, Is realizing not everyone feels the same.

I often wonder why somethings make us smile.

Why some people make our hearts beat a little bit faster.

What prompts that tear to trickle down from our eye,

When we're trying to be so strong for everyone else.

I wonder why sometimes your head hits the pillow and your mind starts to dream,

Yet others you lie awake missing those you can no longer hold.

I wonder why some people endure such little pain,

Yet the pain they endure seems never ending.

Or how those who suffer loss after loss,

Still walk with their head held high.

Why does the mirror never reflect the image we want to see?

Why can we just not accept the developed photograph.

How does one touch make us weak at the knees,

Yet one glare can freeze us like stone.

Why some people in our lives never serve a purpose but to realize we don't need them.

While others only make us wonder how we ever lived without them.

I will never understand many of life's little lessons.

Why the pain never goes away,

Or why a look from you can make it seem non existent.

I wonder why i can still get up and everyday and find something new to be happy about

I find that my mind wanders.

I wonder what you would say when I told you my heart has been stolen.

I wonder what you would say when i tell you I don't know what to do about next year.

I wonder what you would say when I told you, I have no one to talk too anymore.

I wonder what it feels like to not be here anymore.

I wonder if God was letting me know you were going to be leaving when I asked you this,

This the question that troubles me most.

I wonder if your "i know where i'm going but I don't know melissa, i don't know how it would feel" response, was a way of god getting your heart prepared.

Mine still wasn't prepared to lose you.

But with each passing day, And each passing breath,

Each smile i share with world, and every thought I confess,

I'll keep you close to my heart, and never forget your pain is at rest.

"I was slipping away, that's what it felt like, life was leaving me, but I wasn't afraid; then I remembered: "There was something I was meant to do; somewhere I was meant to be.""

-The lovely Bones

Beauty that lies within

Think of all the beauty that's still left in and around you and be happy.
-Anne Frank-

This is the first time I've blogged in over two weeks.
I haven't been in some hole hiding from the world.
It's not even that I haven't had anything to say.
To say I didn't have time to write would even be a lie.
The fact is, The last two weeks, I have been the happiest I've been in almost a year.

I haven't written because I don't have time, or know what to say...
It's how do i convey how truly happy I am.
How do I convey that I'm not happy because of other people in my life.
I'm not happy because the sun is out everyday.
I'm not happy because i feel like I should be.
I'm not happy Because I feel its what everyone wants to hear.

I'm happy because I finally get to be who I want to be.

For the longest time I let other people bring me down.
Control my mood.
Be my strength.
But a month ago I found myself completely self reliant, for the first time ever.
I didn't have my mom to help me decide what to do.
I had no relationship to work around.
I had friends, but none I looked to, to keep me pushing forward.
My family was far away.
I barely talked to my dad (richard).
Or my aunt.
Or really my siblings.

I had a lot of time to do what I wanted to do.
To be around people who lifted me up, and not fake a smile around people who only did things
to make themselves look better...

I found that once I was happy with myself and my choices
it was easy to be happy for everyone else.
It was easy to think about my mom and not think about how alone I was.
It was easier to answer the phone and hear my sister cry.
It was easier to talk to my brother like he talked to our mom.
I started sending more encouragement notes to others like i used to do.
I started noticing other people and was finally able to balance
taking care of myself and helping others.

I also found that when you surround yourself with people
who care about you as much as you care about them,
life is easier.

I come into work beaming and glowing.
I do everything with a smile
(minus a few glares...in pure fun :))
people have noticed the extra spring in my step.

When they ask whats going on,
I simply say, I am SO HAPPY.

Being happy or content is not something that you search for.
All you'll find is a glass with one more sip to satisfy your thirst,
and then you go back to craving the feeling of being refreshed again.

Happiness in some ways finds you.
You just need to embrace it.

When you wake up and its gloomy,
think of all the amazing things that aren't.
Like the bright smile the person you get butterflies for has.

Its appreciating the things that seem to not get appreciated.
when you start to see beauty in things that may not seem so bright,
you will find that most things will never seem dull anymore.

A friend of mine told me one night that he thought he tried too hard or went to far trying to be funny....
What I wanted to tell him,
is that i hadn't laughed or smiled so much in a year,
and no matter how cheesy it was,
My smile still hasn't faded.

Its about being with people who bring out the best in you.
people who make you a better person just by being around them.

There is a person I've always wanted to be.
A person that most people saw.
I started having too many moments where i didn't like who i was becoming.
I didn't like how I felt or how I acted.

Maybe its cutting off friendships with selfish people.
Maybe its realizing that I don't need to take things so seriously.
Maybe its finding someone who makes me want to be a better person.

Whatever it is,
It makes me so happy.

Everyone tells me I derserve to be happy.
But don't we all?

There is nothing that has happened to me that should give me priority over someone else to be happy.
So I encourage all of you this week,
To find something small in the midst of hard day.

I wish my mom could see me this happy.
I wish she could dance around with me when I had a great night.
I know she's with me.
She's probably the angel that sent some amazing people to me recently.

Like Anne Frank said,
Think of all the beauty that is still left around you.

So I will go forth with that,
and everyday,
no matter how tough,
will find beauty in life,
embrace it,
cherish it,
remember it,
and learn from it.

I want to leave you all with a final quote from the Movie Sex and the City 2:

Samantha Jones: Relationships aren't just about being happy. I mean, how often are you happy in your relationship?
Charlotte York: Every day.
Samantha Jones: Every day?
Charlotte York: Well, not all day every day but yes, every day.

No matter what relationship, no matter how hard it gets,
find happiness in the fact that it still exists,
You never know when it could be taken away from you.
embrace it,
cherish it,
remember it,
and never forget how it makes you feel to see that person.

-Mel

Glitter

There are so many things going through my mind.

I usually can't even sleep.

I find comfort in music.

I really love to listen to the lyrics.

I can apply so many songs to my life and in someway I find peace.

Knowing that once someone else felt the same way I did.

Whether it be a song about being in love.

A song about forgiveness.

A song about pain.

A song about the first time you see someone.

A song about wanting what you can't have.

Even a song about losing someone you love.

I love quotes.

I love things being laid on my heart that I can explain away through the words of an old poet.

I usually find that this song or these words will not escape my mind for days.

If you know me, you know that a good quote will end up as my status or printed out and hung up.

A good song will be repeated until i no longer feel that way.

Often times I'll fall in love with a song, and then forget about.

When I find it again, while shuffling the lists on my ipod, I'm instantly taken back.

What I find humorous is when I can reapply a song from 5 years ago to my life now.

Or even 5 months ago.

Many of you know I lost a dear friend last april.

Many of you knew it was a high school friend, that I hadn't kept in close touch with.

What most of you do not know, is that this friend got me through senior year.

That this friend had been a constant thought on my mind right before she passed away.

In fact we had conversed a day before.

What many of you don't know is that I didn't so much feel pain from losing something I had.

It was losing something I didn't get the chance to have.

7 months ago, I played a song on repeat.

I made it my status.

My mom called me the next day and made sure I was ok.

7 months ago, I told my mom I wanted to come home.

I was so homesick and lonely.

She was so encouraging.

My mom was my best friend.

"Have you eve hated yourself for staring at the phone. Your whole life waiting on the ring to prove you're not alone"

My mom was that ring.

Find Strength in what remains behind

"Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be..."
— William Wordsworth

The last three weeks, have been anything been consistent for me. the way my days could go from high to low was impressive, even to someone who has never really known a normal in their life. Its hard to say whether those days and weeks of highs and lows will return. I'm sure they will but can hope that in light of recent events they will occur less often.

There is a calming in the air as a part of my life has been eliminated. I feel that the sun shining down is only an indication that was has recently ended was never meant to continue. This only brightens the smile on my face knowing that I no longer have to worry about being pushed down when I'm finally having a day of peace.

I was scolding a few weeks ago for making my thoughts public. For days, I felt like maybe I should just keep things to myself. Then someone told me how they appreciated what I had to say and it meant a lot to them. So to this person who brought me so far down for the last three months I have one thing to say to you: look in the mirror, and tell me that you honestly like who you've become.

I don't feel sad about the loss of a relationship, in fact I feel enlighten and hopeful for an even more amazing future. For sometimes you find that even though you have endured more pain and suffering then another person, you may be in a better place then they are.

I'm working on remembering my mom by doing things that she would do, or by doing things that I used to do that meant a lot to her.

So I baked my signature cookies that she loved, and gave them to other people. I baked muffins and used one of her favorite recipes.

One of our last conversations we talked about how she wished I was closer to her and could come bake for her. She loved when I baked or my sister made one of her unique creations.

I feel honored to have learned so many things from her in the short time that I had with her.


"Though nothing can bring back the hour
Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find
Strength in what remains behind;
In the primal sympathy
Which having been must ever be..."
— William Wordsworth

I will find strength in what remains, the memories of my mom and the many wonderful things that she blessed me with.

Sparkles like a fake

"I was standing there crying in the kitchen
It's been one of those mornings that's gonna last all day"

I have found that many days, have ended up this way. I don't know if it is the stress, the planning, the way I try so hard and fail, that have exhausted me, or if it really is the fact that I've never felt so much pain.

I used to cover my mouth when I smiled or laughed. I hated how all my teeth showed so much that you could see my gums. I thought it was the most hideous smile.

I was at my friends grandmas house, and her grandma had another couple over for dinner. Earlier that day I had tried to do a back flip (I have never been flexible I don't know why I tried this) and landed on my big toe so hard that it bent over and bruised immediately. I was in pain and my friend was in pain from feeling so bad (she accomplished the back flip mind you) that my toe was doubling in size.

The best medicine for my bruised toe was my friends grandparents and their friends. They had us all laughing and giggling around the table. I remember the lady kept looking at me, and I wasn't sure why. I thought "maybe she thinks i'm faking the pain because i'm laughing so much." Another joke was said and I laughed and laughed. My hand was right there to cover my grin like a curtain blocking the sunlight out. This time, the lady said "dear why do you cover your mouth when you laugh? You have the most beautiful and bight smile I have ever seen."

From that day on, I have never covered my smile.

Yet, my smile is what gets me in trouble. Sometimes, my smile has given people (cough men cough) the wrong idea that I am interested in them, or wish to strike up a conversation...this is rarely the case....

It also gets me in trouble when I have a bad day.

I love to smile, laugh, be a goofball. I love to be happy and feel good about a day. I pride myself in the fact that I can look at a bad day, mine or someone else's and find something good about it. This is why I hate debbie downers. Negativity has led to a lot of the reason I have had failed relationships with both guys and girlfriends. I get annoyed being around pessimistic people.

Again, it gets me in trouble.

When I don't smile, people know somethings wrong. But if they ask, I usually smile back, and say, nope "i'm fine"

My beautiful smile, is a deceitful one.

Like the rings that shine so brightly, yet, they are fake in every angle.

I think that sometimes It helps to mask how I feel. However, in the same respect, I feel that some people assume it should be fake because I shouldn't be this happy.

Pictures are hard for me to look at, I can't help but go back in time immediately to that moment and feel everything. It makes everything so unreal. Bad dreams, are the best to wake up from, because you are doing just that, waking up. What happens when you can never wake up? what happens if you feel like you're drowning forever.

"And he comes in, wraps his arms around me
And I don't even have to say a thing "-Miranda Lambert

Prompted by a Song and a Snowflake

"I thank God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with Joy becuase of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began good work in you will carry it on to the completion until the day of Jesus Christ."

I heard a song today, while listening to my Pandora, it was I need you to love me, by Barlow Girl. A single tear escaped the corner of my eye. It would have made more sense to cry over the pictures I was looking at in my forensic science book, while reading the assigned chapter on dead bodies. But in fact it was not the song itself, nor the pictures that released the water from my tear duct. It was the reminder of why I liked the song so much.

My mom was great at buying us gifts. For our birthdays, for Christmas, and even for "good luck on finals" care packages. Her main expertise was buying very good contemporary Christian music for my sister and I. The year after she was diagnosed she gave me the barlow girl cd "another journal entry"

I had been very sad for some time. Again, like today just pushing everything and everyone away. I listened to the CD on repeat. The songs I felt had been written for me. The story of my life. So, today I downloaded the CD.

There are so many moments in life where you wish you could freeze them, and keep them in a little memory box forever. With the hopes of whenever you are down you can go back to this box and open in it up and look back at all of those times. Times like the first snow, where it glitters and glistens like a prairie full of diamonds. Or when someone says something funny and the entire room erupts with with a joyful song of laughter. Its moments like these that can take you back to a certain time and place, one where you may wish you never ad to leave.

My sister asked me to look up a verse, Psalm 28:7. While doing so, I turned to the booked marked page. Philippians chapter 1. That is where the passage above comes from. My favorite verse is "I thank God every time I remember you." However, I had never really read the entire passage...I would be lying if I said that after reading It, I felt it was just an ordinary passage and there was no coincidence behind it.

I feel these verse are not only about remembering my mom, but about the very simplistic essence of her life, and how her life is supposed to impact mine. From the day she was born she was angel, sent to worship God, and show others the way. "you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Her legacy, her love for christ, didn't cease when I said goodbye to her for the last time. In fact, it was passed on to me. To shine until that day comes, or God comes for me.

I guess, I don't know really why I blogged this. I just like sharing my little reassurances that everything will be ok. With my everyday discoveries and babysteps, it feels good to document them.