I live in a tourist town. Yeah, it’s a pain in the ass sometimes: giving directions, acting as the tourist information booth, all the strangers, the noise, etcetera etcetera etcetera …I suppose that’s a small price to pay for living in one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
It starts getting all touristy here in March, when the fish start biting. It stays all touristy here until about the fourth of July, when it gets too damn hot to do touristy things. We get a brief uptick around Halloween from biker rallies in the area, but otherwise it is nice and quiet around here throughout the autumn and winter months.
It’s about to officially be autumn, which means it is relatively quiet around here.
AAAAAAAHHHHH
I woke up this morning to silence. No tourists, no weekenders, just us locals that don’t make much noise. It was also in the low seventies (fahrenheit, low twenties celcius). It’s finally starting to think about cooling off. We’re still looking at 90-ish for the highs, but it seems as if the malice has left the afternoon heat. (That’s actually rare around here–usually around this time of year, we’re still looking at near 100F for daytime highs.) With any luck, I’ll actually be able to wear clothes again soon, maybe even a light sweater!
Now that the heat has broken, I will get to enjoy the benefits of living in one of the most beautiful places on the planet. I stood by the river this morning and just stared in awe at the wonder of it all.
Days like today, when there are no tourists and no stupetaculous heat, I can remember the meaning of life. This moment.
This moment is all we really have–yesterday is gone and I can’t change it, tomorrow never really arrives. I have to take time to be in the moment and truly live it, as it’s happening. I can look back on today with fondness tomorrow, but I can never relive it.
So today, I’m going to go enjoy this moment in one of the most beautiful places on the planet.
I’m trying so hard to not kill myself. It used to be the thing keeping me from suicide was my family, but lately, it seems like they don’t even care.
I wasn’t even supposed to be born. I hate that my mom didn’t get rid of me. I shouldn’t be alive, and I hate being alive.
I’m suffering everyday of my life. This isn’t how life should be. What makes it worse is I’m 16. I’m a junior in high school.
THIS ISN’T HOW IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE.
What happened to high school being the best years of our lives? These have been my worst. I just want to be happy. But I have serious doubts about that happening.
How all these amazing people survived, I don’t know. They’re lucky. They have a reason to live, I guess. I don’t. I’m literally worthless. I have ruined everyone’s lives around me. I just want to die…
I live in a swamp. Every spring, the turtles emerge from their hidey-holes near the water, cross the street, and lay their eggs. Sadly, other swamp critters often dig up and eat the eggs before they hatch. I see white eggshells scattered around holes dug in the ground throughout the summer, and it always makes me sad.
This year, turtles laid eggs right under some neighbors’ campers. Today, those eggs started hatching and turtles started crawling out, following their internal compass toward the water. My neighbors gently started digging up the hard ground and collecting the turtles so that they had a chance to survive without getting run over trying to cross the road. See, while folks around here slow down for turtles crossing the road in spring, those babies are much harder to see as they head toward the water.
At least two turtles’ babies have a chance this year, and that makes me happy. Life–be it turtle, dog, human, or whatever–is worth celebrating. Knowing that my neighbors gave some tiny baby turtles a chance to make it to the water without getting crushed or eaten is definitely something to be happy about.
I recently got back from a trip to New York, a five hour drive (from Maine), which was huge for me!
I suffer with agoraphobia, meaning I have a hard time leaving my house for any duration. Five minutes is hard enough, you can imagine how hard A WEEK was for me.
BUT, alas, I DID IT! I successfully left my house for a vacation and managed to have fun!
Not only did I have fun, but so did my son, here is a picture of him playing with his cousins in the sprinkler on one of the hotter days.
He had a ball and I was so happy I overcame this hurdle and was able to experience this with him!
Anxiety and panic disorders are very real and can feel like a noose around your neck, but I promise- with a lot of work and effort, YOU CAN FREE YOURSELF FROM ITS HOLD. It doesn’t have to be a life sentence. You can overcome your fears a little at a time. Baby steps, just remember baby steps. Small victories lead to even bigger victories (before this trip, I was only able to be outside of my house for 15 minutes at a time). Don’t let yourself be held down by anxiety. Fight for your life back!
Thanks for being there for me, The Band. I don’t know where I would be right now without you guys!
Hey guys, I just wanted to share with you how helpful this site and community has been for me. First off, I finally have an outlet for all of the emotional pain and suffering deep down inside. Thank you.
This site has also helped me find the strength inside I never knew I had. I have had to face some horrible things while writing posts on here but I feel so much better afterwards. And the comments, they mean the world to me.
With my new found strength, I have decided to finally follow my dream of becoming a writer. I have a million stories swimming through my head at any given point and I am finally going to do something with them. Thanks to you. I never had the confidence or strength to want to do something with this dream but now I do. I am currently working on two books at the moment and I couldn’t be happier. It is stressful and aggravating at times but I am happy! It is finally happening!
So thank you, The Band. From the bottom of my heart.
My best friend’s 17 year old daughter just got her first car recently. I somehow got talked into going to Jefferson, TX with her. This girl, who I’ll call Jenny, and I worked together in the same restaurant last summer, and actually get along rather well. We both enjoy the same anime cartoon, and find the same things amusing, and we both have a serious weakness for cuppity cakes. Now she is, in many ways, an old soul and a pretty cool chic to sit and talk to. So really, it wasn’t any kind of torture to go spend time with this kid just so her mom could have some peace of mind knowing that an an adult was around if something went wrong with the car or whatever.
We went to Jefferson, TX, which is this little historic town that used to be a major shipping hub in the plantation days, but is now a tourist trap with antique shops and ghost tours and such, along with the occasional four day long biker ralley. Jenny and I wandered into some of the cuter stores and looked at funny teeshirts and weird pocketbooks with pounds and pounds of fake gems pasted on them and looked at all of the historic architecture, and train cars, and such, and had a great time.
As we were wondering around, we wandered into the local drug store. I had never been in there before, and Jenny thought the place was cool. The first thing I noticed was the old timey soda shop inside this drug store. It was OLD, and it brought back memories of my dad taking me to the local drugstore in the town where I grew up and having lunch or ice cream at the soda shop counter there.
It was a powerful wave of childhood memories, and for a moment I wasn’t my 44 year old self. For just one moment, I was a little platinum-haired kid, and I think I actually looked around for my daddy.
Now, rather than make me sad that my daddy died when I was only 14, these memories made me feel so connected to the daddy I lost so long ago. I actually felt the joy of a child as I walked up to the counter and started to read my ice cream options on the wall.
I sometimes think that, as adults, we get so caught up in all of the busy-ness of our lives that we forget that kids are onto something. Kids don’t forget to laugh and play and enjoy the moment. Kids don’t forget to live life.
I think I’ll have to ask my friend if I can borrow Jenny again sometime soon so that we can go back to that drugstore with its soda shop counter and sit down a moment and enjoy life.
