i'm looking back through my journal that i've kept for over a year now. a little leather bound notebook that holds everything from deep thoughts and things friends have said that stuck with me, to packing lists and recipes for camping trips.
i write to remember, i write to forget, i write because sometimes you just need to see your own thoughts in front of you to realize how true or silly they really are.
everything you find written on this website starts out as scribbles in this tattered thing, but most of the ramblings it contains will never see the light of day.
flipping through the smudged and dirty pages, it's always interesting to see what was going through my head a week, a month or even a year ago. sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes joyous, sometimes i wonder what the hell i was thinking when i wrote a passage, other times simply reading my words can be overwhelming.
turning back to november fifth two thousand and fourteen, the day lauren and i decided that after months of close friendship we should give this a shot. some words to myself about following my heart and taking chances regardless of what the outcome may be and a quote, "and i think good gets better".
learning and growing by each others side in the beginning, figuring out what it takes to go from being best friends to best friends in a relationship. to a distance of two thousand miles between us this summer, figuring out what it takes to be present in two places at once.
i wrote in my notebook near the end of lauren's time in montana, "i can't wait to get to know her again."
because as i alluded to in my previous post, just as the seasons, we are always changing. we need to; we have to. and something i've learned this past year is that embracing that change, even when it might not feel great, is the only way to progress; both separately and together.
a year later, and good did get better. i like how we've changed. i like how we've grown. i like how this has undoubtedly evolved into something that is no just one anymore, but two.
two to travel. two to inspire. two to write. two to photograph. it's good to have lauren by my side as a part of america y'all.