I have spent months in this bathroom, okay, maybe years looking in the mirror, wallowing in tears.

In my reflection I saw the death of many things:

love, respect,friendship, and my childhood dreams,

but I'll make this confession right here and now

to clear my conscience as much as time allows.

Anger, hate, jealousy, and fear

have made their final appearance this year,

so I'll stand up and wipe all this off my ass

and quite possibly lacking in dignity and class.

I refuse to no longer allow them to stay

because…

"It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live."

-Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone -

When I was a little girl, my parents bought Prince's album Purple Rain. I would sit in front of the stereo with head phones on my head, repeatedly listen to that album, and fantasize that Prince's voice was that of my own, and I was singing to millions to adoring fans. I had dreams that one day I would be a superstar, but why did I want to be a superstar?

I was always shy as a child. I would try…

As I go to sleep among the twinkling stars,

I talk to ashes in a jar.

Ashes that once taught me how to drive a car.

Ashes that comforted me when I was afraid of the dark.

I tell the ashes all of my sorrows.

I tell the ashes my hopes and fears for tomorrow.

Ashes that once, if I needed, let me borrow.

Ashes that wrapped my feet before playing in the snow.

Ashes, I miss you.

You always talked me through things when I was feeling blue

though I know you are still here guiding me through.

Ashes one day I will be you.

I…

I'm Nobody! Who are you?

By Emily Dickinson

I'm nobody! Who are you?

Are you nobody, too?

Then there's a pair of us — don't tell!

They'd banish us, you know.

How dreary to be somebody!

How public, like a frog

To tell your name the livelong day

To an admiring bog!

When we are born, we are usually given a name which allows others to identify who we are. It tells people the ancestors we came from and what others call us to differentiate one person from another. It is a label used for the mark that we make on the world…

Monty Monkey

Monty started out as a young monkey won in a poker game by a cigar smoking drifter named Maude. Maude and Monty roamed from town to town looking for the next jackpot and running away from bookies until one day they ended up outside the campus of University of Alabama. 

Two college boys came across Monty on their way back from an accounting class. One boy said, "Woah, there's a monkey. Let's keep him," so they brought him back to their apartment. They gave him beer and beans and found out Monty…

Imagine waking up at 4:30am and working all day long at job #1, and then, when you get off around 3pm, you immediately head to job #2. When you arrive home around 7pm, you must make sure dinner is cooked for your middle-school aged child whom you hope arrived home safely after school. Then you must check their homework and attempt to clean and/or do work you have left from jobs #1 and #2. Now, try to add your hobbies that give you purpose and meaning, a social life, and sleep. That is what my life had been…