Everyday I fall in love, just a little bit with someone new. It’s in the tiny movements that make us human, the cracks of time coming from our laughing eyes that draw a smile across my face. A stolen kiss, an act of kindness, the way we stop dead in our tracks when we come to the realisation we are lost and have to recalibrate. The bliss wrapped around the moment of a loved one’s return, the awkward conversation being thrown around on first dates, the reminders of humanity are all around us. You can find it anywhere, everywhere. Walk around, take notice on the bus or better yet watch people at the arrivals gate in the airport.
Quite often you can see my silhouette perched up three floors above the world with my fingers wrapped around a cup that is begging to be drunk. An adoring smile creeps upon my face as I study the patterns and behaviour of the tiny figures roaming the streets below me. The truth is when we think no one is watching often we can find ourselves having genuine reactions and a bit of authenticity spills out of us, and it’s such a beautiful thing. The other day, a teenage girl wore her angst in black, ripped fishnets and spikes. Her expression was stoic until a bop dropped a beat that drew a smirk. Her hips began to sway, head began to bob and there was a roll of the body as she slinked off the bus. In that moment, there was a crack in her armour and it was captivating.
It made me think, does anyone really know another? Is there any one person who has seen all your phases? Someone who has studied all the shadows tucked between your crevices. Is it possible that someone has unlocked all the secrets you stored within your chest? Some one who has met your demons, past selves and stared your insecurities straight in the eye alongside you. Who knows all the you’s you have left behind? Could someone see all these things, accept them and love every part of ourselves? I hope so. That’s where the beauty is right? For it was when the shadows of the darkest days saw daylight that our hearts felt lighter. The cracks of a broken soul stitched together with gold creating new tapestries as transfixing as a kaleidoscope. We are cratered with imperfections and constantly shape shifting, so be patient with yourself and know that you are always whole.
The world is a rough and tumble kind of place. It will chew you up and spit you out if you don’t mind your step. It’s hard to see the sunshine through the black ink smeared across the front page predicting our imminent demise. But if you look around, there’s beauty in every single thing, each and every one of us. We just have to let the sun in. We have to hold ourselves ever so gently and forgive ourselves when we misstep. Get to know yourself, be brave enough to love another, drink it all in and learn from it. For if we don’t we will be nothing more than a sack of bones tied together with a smile wandering this world, and that would be a shame because you are made of the sea and the stars.
a wanderess tale 