Oh the places you'll go!

 Long, long ago, there was this girl who was suicidal. Who knew why, or if it even made sense- she had a loving family, lived in the suburbs, had never known poverty or hunger, or abuse. Do these things ever have to make sense? That girl had no idea that she would grow up to do some badass things. Spend months at a time in amazing places. Here are some of them... 

 3 Weeks in Florida 

My husband and I spent time in Orlando with the in-laws, then slowly worked our way down the eastern coast of Florida down to the Keys. We had $10 left in our bank account when we got home, and immediately spent that on lunch, but I was a server and worked the next day, so it was ok.

Burning Man

There are only two reactions when I explain that we did this for our honeymoon- pure disgust or pure wonder. I will always remember it with wonder (and maybe a little disgust, considering all the places I was finding sand after we got home...). In the image above, the bonfire made from "the man" is still burning in the background, 24 hours later. 

Arkansas

My husband, my brother in law, and my new sister in law spent a few days camping and road tripping in Arkansas. It was gorgeous- occasionally it seemed like an alien planet. Few road signs, and the cicadas were bright blue and orange and liked to kamakazi us as we sat around the fire. 

Month-long tour of the east coast

Mostly, I discovered that I am not an east coast girl. Detroit was like a third world country, I took us almost 6 hours the wrong way toward Canada, and many of the quests to find parking ended in tears or with glass bottles thrown at us. However, I will not forget how the Broadway production of Phantom of the Opera drove me literally to tears because of its beauty. The stars on the island of Roanoke were the closest I have ever come to magic. My grandmother showed me pictures of her and my grandfather, and in every picture they were laughing. A good friend had committed suicide just a few months before, but the world kept turning and showing me that love still had power. 

The great sand dunes

The juxtaposition of mountain and sand looked like a movie set. I wasn't sure that anything would ever be right in the world again, but they reminded me that wonder would always exist.

Aspen

Aspens grow in the space left after an avalanche has demolished all other life. There's probably a metaphor in there somewhere.

California

My husband and I only had a week, and we wanted to see and do everything. This was the first short vacation we ever took, and it was way over planned. We were constantly on the move. The redwood forest felt like a Star Wars set. The sea lions were loud and almost human the way the young ones woke up the older ones because they wanted to play. 

"Sometimes I think we live through things only to be able to say that it happened. That it wasn't to someone else, it was to me. Sometimes we live to beat the odds" -"The Jacket"

All photos are property of the author