"So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be."

There’s something about that tunnel that leads to downtown. It’s glorious at night. Just glorious. You start on one side of the mountain, and it’s dark, and the radio is loud. As you enter the tunnel, the wind gets sucked away, and you squint from the lights overhead. When you adjust to the lights, you can see the other side in the distance just as the sound of the radio fades because the waves just can’t reach. Then, you’re in the middle of the tunnel, and everything becomes a calm dream. As you see the opening get closer, you just can’t get there fast enough. And finally, just when you think you’ll never get there, you see the opening right in front of you. And the radio comes back even louder than you remember it. And the wind is waiting. And you fly out of the tunnel onto the bridge. And there it is. The city. A million lights and buildings and everything seems as exciting as the first time you saw it. It really is a grand entrance.

I hope it's the kind of second side

that he can listen to whenever he

drives alone and feel like he belongs

to something whenever he's sad.

I hope it can be that for him.

So I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons.

And maybe we'll never know most of them.

But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from,

we can still choose where we go from there.

We can still do things.

And we can try to feel okay about them...

I remembered this one time that I never told anyone about.

The time we were walking. Just the three of us.

And I was in the middle.

I don’t remember where and I don't remember when.

I don't even remember the season.

I just remember walking between them and feeling for the first time that

I belonged somewhere.

-QUOTES FROM PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER BY STEPHEN CHBOSKY

But because things change.

And friends leave.

And life doesn’t stop for anybody.

"There's always world enough and time." -Audrey Niffenegger

"Clare, I want to tell you, again, I love you. Our love has been the thread through the labyrinth, the net under the high-wire walker, the only real thing in this strange life of mine that I could ever trust. Tonight I feel that my love for you has more density in this world than I do, myself: as though it could linger on after me and surround you, keep you, hold you."

Henry DeTamble

'Cause baby you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"
As you shoot across the sky-y-y

Baby, you're a firework
Come on, let your colors burst
Make 'em go "Oh, oh, oh"
You're gonna leave 'em falling awe-awe-awe

You don't have to feel like a waste of space
You're original, cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds
After a hurricane comes a rainbow

Maybe your reason why all the doors are closed
So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road
Like a lightning bolt, your heart will glow
And when it's time, you'll know

-Katy Perry Firework

One year ago from December 4th I spent 4 days with 6 strangers.

I spent time in three different houses in two different countries,

and flew on 5 different planes. Nothing could change me as much

as that experience did. Most of the time I had no idea where I was in

location and when I was going or coming back. I had control over nothing

about that experience at all. My first attempt at literally flying solo into the

unknown...I survived. I need to remember those four days and refer

to this experience to reference future bravery.

"A girl who may not know what she wants right now, and she may not know who she is right now, but who deserves the chance to find out." -Jodi Picoult

"Let me tell you this:

if you meet a loner,

no matter what they tell you,

it's not because they enjoy solitude.

It's because they have tried to blend into the world before,

and people continue to

disappoint them."

-Jodi Picoult

I hope it's not too cliché to borrow some quotes from Eat. Pray. Love.

I spent a lot of time this weekend learning about myself.

Its always hard to look at yourself honestly and evaluate fears and weaknesses.

I am always surprised by how much I actually need people sometimes.

I am so very much still in a learning process and a discovery process about life.

Maybe it will get easier, maybe it will get harder...only time will tell.

Trying to be brave.

"Happiness is the consequence of personal effort.

You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it.

You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings.

And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it.

You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it."

A true soul mate is probably the most important person you'll ever meet,

because they tear down your walls and smack you awake.

But to live with a soul mate forever? Nah. Too painful.

Soul mates, they come into your life just to reveal another layer of yourself to you, and then leave.

-Elizabeth Gilbert

Oliver Twist

Whatever I have tried to do in life, I have tried with all my heart to do it well; whatever I have devoted myself to, I have devoted myself completely; in great aims and in small I have always thoroughly been in earnest.

-Charles Dickens