Chasing Fireflies

by Charles Martin

Even now, when someone calls me by the name on my driver’s license, Chase Walker, it’s as if they’re asking for someone else. Like my entire life is one of mistaken identity. I know this because when they say it, it doesn’t fill in the blank on the tape. If you want to know what I’m talking about, spend an entire day introducing yourself as someone you’re not, and then listen when people call you by that name. You’ll understand.

“The only monster you need to worry about in this life is the one that stares at you from the mirror each morning. You tame him, make friends with him, and the rest of life is nothing you can’t handle.”

You take the bad with the good. Rise up through it. Live in the midst of it. It’s the bad that lets you know how good the good really is. Don’t let the bad leave you thinking like there ain’t no good. There is, and lots of it, too.”