the moon will shine for us too

by Jennae Cecelia

Sometimes getting through hard times takes a while.

And while everything else seems to change, I find comfort in the sun rising and setting the same.

I was standing out by not moving where everyone else went.

You are allowed to feel whatever emotions arise in a season when uncertainty is at an all-time high.

I find joy in old linen shirts from the thrift stores. Coffee mugs with the perfect speckled neutral color. Items that once lived in someone else’s home. Ready to tell a story all their own. We all have a story all our own.

remember you cannot truly welcome in happiness without sadness knocking sometimes too.

It is a heavy load to carry to be the light for yourself and everyone else who finds the darkness scary.

Why must my mind wander to all the places I no longer want to visit?

hope with me, you feel like you can show up exactly how you show up when you are home alone.

Maybe this stage of your life looks a lot like eating take-out food on your living room floor as you light a candle for some “ambience.” Sitting crisscross in sweat pants that you have not changed in a few days.

maybe you are walking through it with wobbly legs that

resemble you coming home from the bar.

This will not be the last hard day. It is not the first hard day. But what happened between those days? Things got better. There was less rain. Hard days come. But they never fully stay.

And you not being here has a ripple effect much bigger than any small movement you have imagined.

You do not owe anyone anything. You are allowed to show up however you please. This is not about them. It is okay if they disagree.

I hope this year brings laughs that make your stomach hurt and smiles that leave wrinkles around your eyes.

I will meet you one year from now in the park for coffee. I cannot wait to hear how much things have changed. I cannot wait to tell you all that the year taught me.

Do people not actually spontaneously show up, for a drive through the fall woods or to vent their problems while you pour coffee into their cup?

Most days I have no clue what the hell I am doing or where I am going.