Heroines

I’ve said this before, but I’d like to reiterate it: I am tremendously proud of my friends. So many people in this world drop off the map and never live up their potential. They never go anywhere or try anything new, and they give up on their dreams before the ink’s dry on their high school diploma. You don’t seriously think that the people you met in high school will be your lifelong friends, but I’ve never met anyone who can compare to the women I met there. They were my reason for not running like hell  out of the suburban prison of Holden, and why I started to live again as a teenager. Even now, they’re my role models. My friends went to amazing colleges and universities, they all graduated and they’re all embarking on what they want to do for life. I admire that so much.

Not all their paths are set in stone, but daring to take a journey is admirable in and of itself. For Sarah, moving cross-country and leaving behind the town where she lived and her mother died, it must’ve been terrifying and utterly necessary. Like cutting your own arm after it was gangrenous. She could’ve let herself be boxed in by the expectations of others but she never has. She’ll figure it out, and I think I’m the same way a bit. My journey’s led me from Massachusetts to New York to Texas to Ohio, and I still have miles to go before I sleep. I’ll figure it out though. The working it out is the best part.