Ciao means hello and goodbye

In Italy, you never know if people are coming or leaving, if moments are beginning or ending, and history and recession and winding roads from the hills to the sea all run together, but there's a consolation - there will always be pasta on the table.

the voices in the morning

There are voices I love to hear in the morning, and fall asleep to as they murmur along with the constant London rain, my family across the ocean. There aren't words to describe the way these fingers and toes and livers and spleens have wriggled their way into my heart.

fresh breaths

In the exact moment that I needed a fresh breath, an escape, my best friend's parents claimed me as their own and whisked me away to a city stuck in time, streets I'd read about, a day without having to face the pain.

(Bath, UK, and London, England)

fire of the nations

we wandered around the United Kingdom for two months,
climbing to peaks to catch the slipping sun,
whispering together on buses that crisscrossed the valleys,
holding hands briefly in worship,
and my heart broke and changed and grew so beautifully.

pictures of you

I got to meet somebody whose work I'd followed for a while. We met on Tybee Island and took pictures and ate gelato and let the wind tangle our hair. I love moments when art forges friendships.

twilights gone by

We drove out in search of the sun, without a GPS, without a mental map, and ended up with a taste of Georgia magic and a tank full of memories.

twilit flame

Karleigh and I drove for hours and hours because we knew that Tybee Island was at the end, and when we got to the beach, we just stared. It was like we had never seen the ocean before.

On our way back to the mainland, I noticed the sun setting over the Savannah River. Karleigh had never seen the sun set over water, so I stopped, and we walked out to a bridge and sat next to fishermen and watched the sun set over Savannah.

all the haunts you used to know

I spent a weekend at my grandparents' in the mountains, and my grandfather took me on an unexpected hike up to a beaver pond he had known years ago. We found boys camping in the shadow of a mountain, and we walked together in silence, picking flowers for my grandmother.

my soul to cleave to You

I turned 22. I was so excited, the same as a child, that I woke up early and went out praying at sunrise. I ended up at the river landing. It was the most magnificent feeling, being in the midst of God's creation in all of its glory.

Before We Go

There is a list of things that Karleigh and I want to do before I leave for London in late June. Going to Congaree National Forest has been on that list for three years, so we decided to do it on the day between our birthdays. We had a picnic and went on a hike and ate cupcakes. I can't believe that I've lived here for four years and never been.

Gray Court

One of the best thing about being friends for so long is that you don't need to worry about formalities, and you can just get lost on adventures. Michel, Courtney, and I went on a random adventure on the first Sunday of spring break, to a cupcakes shop and a tiny town and to the fence at the edge of District 12 (where we actually do live, just perhaps a few centuries early)