Two years down, so many more to go

Once upon a time
a girl started making some plans

She didn't ask for permission
She belonged to no one and no one belonged to her
The clock struck 12 and she was off

Her youngest niece was kind enough to make her appearance in the nick of time
Her friends sent her off with cake and love
Her parents tried to talk her out of it- but not really

There was a part of her that started the sentence "when I get to California...." more times than anyone could count
There was an air mattress waiting and not much else
There was an idea of what her life would look like when she got there

It was more beautiful than she remembered
It was lonelier than she had anticipated
It was hard to get through the nights when her life back home was already asleep

But she was too stubborn to fail
But she was almost too stubborn to let herself fall
But she let her go and found someone to belong with

And nothing looked the way she had expected
And she worried that her greatest professional achievement would be the perfect cappuccino
And she wished, just once, that she could tell a customer to Fuck Off

In between the mountains and palm trees and a bay breeze
In between trips to a city that had always wanted to call home
In between car rides with the windows down every month of the year

There was her body
Unpredictable, seemingly rebelling, mad at someone
Feeling alien, skin too tight and ill more often than well
Causing more trouble than it's worth

These were her true warrior moments
These were the times she learned how to ask for help
These were the ways that she pushed herself to love herself

Two years passed in a cliche blink of an eye
Two years were what she needed to trust her instincts
Two years to shift her life closer to what she had planned
Two years is not nothing

Maybe in another two, there will me countless more monsters slain
Maybe in another two, I'll laugh at what I want in this moment
Maybe in another two, I'll have what I want in this moment

There is always time to make more plans

Fences

WE connect through stories

We share with each other

We read and watch both lies and truth

I could write about a cold grey world in a distant future

I could weave in details to an exposition that subtly mirror who we are today

I could give you charming heroes with wit and strength who look and sound just like you and me

But for one,

Its been done before

And for two,

Its becoming less necessary every day

But the truth can be hard to face

And it can be impossible to hold a mirror to our own flaws

So lets read it like this:

One upon a time women lost the battle against their assaulters

Once upon a time, our leaders closed the door in the face of those seeking sanctuary

Once upon a time slavery was abolished so that black children could be killed as free people

And the government fenced us in and locked us out

We stayed home and let the fences grew higher and higher

Because we felt alone

Because we felt scared but also safe in our anonymity

And the monsters were real though they looked like us

And the woodland animals sat this one out

And they painted us as witches though we tried to be heroes

But the white knights were too busy mansplaining in the comments section

And the wizard were detained at the gate TSA searching their robes

So the happy ending lives in us

Or not at all

And we have to live in the stories of others

Or drown alone in our own passivity