11.27.2012

coming from a thankful soul

Thanksgiving is past, I know.
But I can have thankful Thursday, or thankful-through-the-month-of-December if I so please.

So today I am thankful for home.
I'm grateful for the potential I feel in me to be something great when I'm there.
I'm grateful for the people there who believe in me.
I'm grateful for the skies and mountains and clouds and sunsets.
I'm grateful for the comfortable silence,
the kind where the love is still tangible and doubts do not exist.
The holding of hands two two little ones, or a grandpa.
I'm grateful that, though I go away, people here stay the same.
I'm grateful for the pace of life...
the kind that when the dinosaur computer is so slow at the appliance store you chat with the lady at the desk. You joke about the fact that people not from here don't always understand- the stores are closed on Sundays, the people call each other by name, there's a man on a horse that sometimes hangs out in town. The lady at the bank went to high school with your dad and you went to school with her son. You get one-on-one attention where ever you go, because mostly, you're one of the only customers.
This place where life is a little slower.
And you know the boy who made your steamer at the coffee shop.
And you play with all the babies.
You pick up your sister from a party and immediately receive a baby in your arms
and hugs all around. Two-armed, real, bear hugs.
You can be yourself and not worry about if you're too fat or how your hair looks or what you wear.
People there know me for who I am, and who I've become over the last 21 years.
They know me back to front. I've proved myself through my life, not my first impression.

When I went to school, I made friends just fine.
But when I had hard days I didn't want people to see my faults.
I didn't want to try so hard to explain the way I was feeling and the reasons I hurt,
with the chance they still wouldn't understand.

So today I'm grateful for family. and home. and people who understand.

Photobucket

Photobucket

Love Always,
and very very blessed,

Taylor Ann

11.20.2012

a pat on the back to me- I am alive

My word it's been some time.
Last night I heard my phone buzz and looked over to see a text that read
"Update your blog already woman!!! Also how is everything!?!?!"
I suppose I forgot that some people read what I write.
And in all honesty, I have missed the therapeutic nature of writing my thoughts.
For, a surprise to us all I'm sure.... I have quite a few of them.
To those of you who come to visit me here, I feel like I owe a slight explanation.
I have been crazy.
Not just school, not just service, not just friends.
This semester has been different than any other on record.
I've dated more than ever before in my life,
I've forged new and different friendships.
I'm not serving in a leadership position on campus.
I have a boy and I like him.
And all of it is changing and growing all the time.
I guess so much has gone on that I'm not quite sure where or how to start.

I guess I'll start somewhere-
Late last summer when I was home, I had a friend that came and wanted to do a photo shoot.
You have to understand, I am consistently behind the lens.
That being said, I was more than slightly uncomfortable.
But Chloe is a gem. She made me comfortable and at home in this place I love.
And when she sent me the pictures a few weeks later, I was pleasantly surprised.
I loved the way she brought out the good things about me [extreme talent]
More than that, I loved that I was at home and she caught my happiness.
This is me, and this is where I'm from.
And it's merely a piece of the happiness I feel when I'm here.

Photobucket
Photobucket
Photobucket
Photobucket


Here's to being home.
And family.
An an enormous gratitude post coming your way,
and a whole lot of time with kiddos coming my way.

Love Always,
Taylor Ann