↳ “Marry your best friend. I do not say that lightly. Really, truly find the strongest, happiest friendship in the person you fall in love with. Someone who speaks highly of you. Someone you can laugh with. The kind of laughs that make your belly ache, and your nose snort. The embarrassing, earnest, healing kind of laughs. Wit is important. Life is too short not to love someone who lets you be a fool with them. Make sure they are somebody who lets you cry, too. Despair will come. Find someone that you want to be there with you through those times. Most importantly, marry the one that makes passion, love, and madness combine and course through you. A love that will never dilute - even when the waters get deep, and dark.”
(via monroesmoke)
I just had a flashback to one of the most upsetting experiences I ever had as an elementary student…
My mom knew that I was having trouble at school with my friends so she thought it would be cool if I got a penpal. Momma found some penpal organization who finally after anxiously waiting for two weeks paired me up with a girl named Immaculee who lived in Kenya.
Our only form of communication was email. We actually didn’t talk very often because she said she had limited time with the computers each week. There were only a few computers provided for the school.
I remember her describing the school as collection of buildings, all different colors corresponding with certain subjects. She was in a school with kids from 4-18 years of age (I believe she was 15). She told me she wanted to be a doctor and nothing was going to stop her from becoming one.
After 2 or 3 months of passing emails back and forth I started to look up to her as a kind of role model, someone set in their ways and driven toward a goal. We talked about our friends, home, family, religion and even talked about visiting each other some day.
Eventually, Christmas rolled around and I thought this would be a perfect opportunity for us to share our cultures with each other. I really wanted to send her some small gifts from Seattle and hoped she would do the same with some stuff from Kenya. Immaculee was really open to the idea. Mom told me to ask her if there was anything in particular that she wanted and I did as momma asked.
I swear, I had never gotten a faster respond from her…and you know what she asked me for?
A laptop.
This was in year 2004.
My mother didn’t even have a laptop, not a cell phone, and was driving a car held together by twist ties…
I was bummed to tell Immaculee that we were unable to afford a laptop for her and you know what?
She was mad!
She said she didn’t believe us and that she felt we were being selfish and how was she going to move on with her studies if we weren’t going to provide a laptop for her…
Like she expected every American to be rolling in money…
It was literally one of the most devastating moments of my childhood. Never did I think someone less fortunate would make my mother and I feel that way.
Needless to say, we didn’t talk after that email, but I do still wonder what ever happened to her.
Things Needed For A Pleasant Night Alone
- Sex and the City
- Craft Project
- Puppy (for snuggling)
- Cup of Tea
