college real life

March 23, 2013

"It's late again, and we've been talking all night.  

And this exact moment is why I love this little room here on the third floor.  It's the times you're so tired that you can't do anything but dream.  And you close your eyes, but you can't sleep because you find too many pretty thoughts there.  

And it's just another night.

We talk about books and we talk about faith and we try and figure out what we're supposed to do with forever.  

And we'll stay up some nights just because we're excited for tomorrow, and we'll stay up other nights just because we're scared.

And you know, late night talks have always been the best ones."

college is a good place, you guys.  

-Linds

openhearts

I took Katie home with me last Sunday.  I drove her all around.  We sat in your driveway and we talked on his stools and I showed her the intersection of 100 East and Center Street.  

Because I wanted her to see where everything happened.  

I wanted her to see where we road bikes and looked at Christmas lights and milked goats in your back yard.  I wanted her to see the roof we wished on and the deck where we played cards.  I wanted her to see the G and hill park and my little, one-step porch.

I wanted her to see the places where my heart grew. 

*** 

One day, you'll trade your little basement bedroom for a window on the third floor, and you'll give up your early morning classes for late night runs.  And you'll see faces you don't recognize, and you'll learn stories you've never heard.   

But, you know, something funny happens when you come to college.

Sunday night dance parties and fires in the canyon change faces you didn't recognize into people you don't want to forget.  

And you'll stay up late telling stories, because no one really sleeps here, and you'll start to realize why she smiles that way.  And you'll hear about past love and happy days and all those times they went to In and Out at midnight.

And she'll listen to you too.  

And it's like, all of a sudden, you'll start to see all of the moments and people and love that made you.  And you'll kiss your thumb after every pinky promise, and fortune cookies will make you sentimental.  

And you'll go to sleep smiling because everything usually works out.  

***

I fell in love with the mountains on rainy mornings, and the way the stars shine brighter when it's warm outside.  

And we all see things a little differently, and nobody's love is exactly the same.

My heart needed that street lamp and hers got that that pretty wooden bench.

And we all see things a little differently, but I guess that's just because hearts don't grow the same.

-Linds

Counting Stars

How about we talk about heaven or the people we want to be. 

How we want to be brave and we want to be kind and how we're not quite ready to grow old yet.  

Let's drive through the stoplights and say silent prayers.  Let's listen to Drops of Jupiter in the rain. Let's sit on my porch and look at the stars and laugh about all the things we thought we knew once.

Let's talk about our dreams and our fears, and I'll smile because we're young and it's easy to forget we're supposed to be afraid sometimes.   

Let's walk through the trees and look at the moon.  Let's drive through the canyon and talk about the way real life feels so far away sometimes.  
Tell me your favorite words, and I'll give you some of mine.  
And maybe once we're through talking we'll remember how it feels to be alive again.

I'll lie in the grass, and you'll look at the stars, and I'll smile because this moment will live forever.

And when it's done, and when we're through, I'll come back to this little home I've made.  And I'll close my eyes, and I'll bite my tongue, and I'll try to say thanks for all of the beautiful things I remembered tonight with you.  


-Linds

Talent & Swag.

So, here’s to another beginning!  

The blog has been revamped with the help of my wonderful, and very talented roommate Katie!  

Check her out, seriously though. You can read about our photo shoot and see some of her other work.  I’m in love with it.

-Linds 


  

Taste it.

I lie on my bed, closing my brown eyes.  I’m tired, but I let the sunshine climb in through my window to lie beside me. I’m full to the brim with kneaders french toast and early morning runs. 


There’s a yellow daisy on my dresser, and my days consist of bare feet, best friends, and bicycle rides.  


And I’ve thought of one thousand ways to say it, but I guess I just liked this one best; I’m happy.  So, so happy.


-Linds

Thank You For Breathing

Do you remember that night we road scooters down the canyon and then we left?  We said goodbye, and we just left for what seemed to be forever.  And I know it's rather anti-climactic now, since I talk to her almost everyday, but I was terribly afraid... and you were always there.  

And now I'm just terribly afraid that I never had the chance to thank you.  

Forgive Me?

-Linds

only threehundredandsixtyfivedays away

One year from now, I hope to be here once again--lying on my light green bedspread, looking at the Christmas lights that hang above my window--thinking about who I've become.

I hope then to look in the mirror just to tell myself once more that God knew exactly where He was taking me all along.

I hope that I'll look at my hair since grown and my countenance since brightened just to realize what I've always had a hard time believing--even my happiest days will get happier.

I hope to look back on twenty-twelve with such love and gratitude toward who I've become and all of the people who've made me that way.  I hope that I'm still listening to Noah and the Whale because of the way they make my heart beat a little slower.  I hope that my smile is just as wide and that I don't lose too much of the person I've become.  Except maybe the way I bite my nails when I'm nervous or the way I sometimes forget to say, I love you.  

Yes, I hope to be better, greater, smarter, kinder, but I like who I am, too.  I like the way I see the moon and the stars shining in the sky at night.  I like the way I feel close to people even when I don't really know them. And I don't think I could bare to lose that.

I hope to look and smile at the person I've become.  

Til then, I'll savor every smile and tear and breath I get this year.  Sitting here, thinking, I'm already filled with an overwhelming excitement toward my future.  And despite the astonishing amount of tears, and goodbyes, and, "I will remember you forever's" I see in my near future, I know I'm so incredibly blessed to feel this way.  

I expect tears and an ache in my stomach when I leave you, because, really, you're the only life I've ever known and you've been good to me.  My God has been good to me.

And I guess as long as I really believe that I have to believe that He'll take care of tomorrow, too.  And I guess when you really begin to believe that, there's no more room for fear. 

Cheers.

-Linds

Thanks Giving.

Let's be honest-- I've lacked inspiration these last coupld of months.  I don't think it's lost though, it's just tired. 

But there's something about being so blissfully in love-- in love with this beautiful place, in love with these extraordinary people-- that inspiration can't help but to notice.

And it seems only fitting that on this week of Thanksgiving I feel nothing but love and adoration. 

This place I live is beautiful, and I'm thankful for it every day.  Yesterday I sat with my greatest friend late into the night and watched the snow fall.  And I just sat and wondered how any one moment could be so perfectly whole and beautiful. 

These people I have are incredible and I am thankful that I have them every day.  We play in the snow and drink hot chocolate together.  Sometimes we have group hugs and I pray silently.  Sometimes I don't say much, mostly just thank you.  Thank you for giving me this much love.  Mostly I just ask that He'll let me feel so much love forever. 

But sometimes I say a lot and ask that He'll lead them towards all of their dreams, even the crazy ones, and that when they finally get there that it'll be just as beautiful as they had always imagined.  Or at least that it'll be as beautiful as this moment right now. 

And there is a lot to be thankful for. Like my clothes and my room and my car.  But the truth is, right now I don't really care because love is all you really need. And when I kneel down again tonight love is what I'll be thankful for.

-Linds