The boy and I have a history of gurning at the camera; there’s quite a big collection that we’ve amassed over the last 5 years…and it looks like it’s going to keep growing. This was actually one of the “nice” ones…we pulled some pretty crazy faces that day!
What is important in life? It may be different for most of us, but there will likely be similarities; companionship, health, happiness, amongst a few. Over the weekend, I spent some time with close friends of Merritt Butrick; whilst he passed away in 1989, I could still feel the sense of pain they felt in the fact that he is not here anymore. They had tender memories and recollections to share. Merritt is still here, he goes with them wherever they go.
It made me think about my own friendships, about how much I cherish them and appreciate them. The people in my life are very special, and over time, I’d like to share them with you via Stars and Rainbows, either through photographs, antidotes, or through guest blog posts. The ones who are still with me today are the ones who are likely to stick with me through all the highs and lows in life; we have weathered the storms thus far, and have learnt how to dance in the rain, rather than complain. I love that.
After going through my own personal storm last year, I have come through it with positivity, and I would much rather acknowledge all the little things in life, all the things that are important, with a positive mind, than focus on the things that have gone wrong that day, or be too sceptical and pessimistic to value the good things in life. Whilst it is hard, at times, to keep a smile on your face, if you simply change the way you think, you can bring sunshine back into your life. And, if not sunshine, then at least you can learn to dance (and sing) in the rain, because, let me tell you, that is just as fun.
I have a wonderful friend, who has been with me since I was around 15 or 16, and I think over the years, we have learnt a lot from one another. We listen. We share. We give our experiences, in the hope that it will help the other. Coffee dates are aplenty. This friend sent me her answers to the questions I posted a little while back, and I thought it would be nice to share them with you all. From her answers, you can get a sense of what is important to her.
1. What is the one thing that makes you happiest, each day?
Hearing the words “I love you”
2. What is your biggest dream?
It sounds really Stepford wife-y but my dream is to have a beautiful house where the door is always open to family and friends, children and a husband who loves me.
3. If you could meet your 16-year-old self, what advice would you give to her/him?
To listen to others advice but not take it as gospel. Follow your heart sometimes and do what you feel is right not what others tell you is right. Also that you are perfect the way you are and that someday soon others will love you for it.
4. What is your most prized possession?
My camp blanket. It has my whole guiding history on it and is the thing that I would save in a fire.
5. What did school teach you?
I loved school which is probably why I want to teach. I think it probably taught me too many things to list here but no doubt I will look back on my own schooling a lot when it comes to teaching.
6. What has life, thus far, taught you?
Everything happens for a reason, even the really shit things. Just hang on in there and your luck will change.
7. How would you describe your style?
I would love to say I have one but I fear I do not. I wish I had the courage to wear the clothes I love everyday but I don’t yet know if I have the gutso to pull them off down the aisles of Tesco.
8. What is your favourite thing about blogging?
I love reading magazines and blogs are like magazines but they just get updated far more regularly.
9. What is your favourite meal? Describe it, in a way that will make the reader want it.
My favourite meal would be a Moroccan banquet on a rooftop in Marrakech. I would be able to feel the sun on my back and hear the hustle and bustle of the djemaa el fna square interspersed with the call to prayer. I would drink freshly squeezed orange juice and eat warm bread with dip and salad whilst waiting for my tagina to arrive onto the table in a cloud of smoke. The warm aroma of the cumin and other spices would hit you as you served the deep brown tagina onto the pale yellow couscous. I would finish with sickly sweet baklava and other sweets whilst the sun set over the Koutoubia Mosque.
10. Imagine you are off on an adventure, and you need to pack a bag of food. What will your picnic consist of?
A hybrid of afternoon tea and Greek meze. Lots of dips and olives followed by cake galore!
11. What is the one thing that you wish everyone could understand?
That everyone is different and that it’s OK. I also wish people would be freer to say “I don’t know a lot about that subject please tell me more about it” rather than talk with authority about things they have no idea about because they are afraid to seem silly.
I hold these answers close to my heart, because it is a glimpse into the lovely mind of my friend. We might not talk as often as we’d like, but when we do, it all slots into place, and we can spill the news that we have been excitedly waiting to tell. Each of my friendships are different, but no less important than each other, they are equal. Why? Because each of my friends add something different to my life, something unique. The friend above, she gives me calm and clarity, a sense of direction if I ever feel slightly off-track, and lots and lots of giggles. She gives me a different life to hear about, to learn about. That’s important, in life, to learn about others, to hear stories from other lives, that teach you that really, we’re all intersected. Our lives touch others, in some way or another, big or small. Sometimes in a good way, sometimes in a bad way; but we can learn from it all.
For me, I feel like life is one big journey, made up of lots of adventures and lessons to learn. It’s a chance to grow. A chance to explore. I am 22, and I am only just starting to discover what it is that I want to do in life, yet, it’s still slightly unclear. This is okay. Whilst a year or two ago, I felt extremely on edge and uneasy about the fact that I didn’t know what I wanted to do, today it is okay. I feel relaxed. I am starting to do what I love, and love what I do. It involves working with children, it involves performing, it involves writing, and it involves taking lots and lots of photographs. Some day soon, I am sure, I’ll be able to describe what I do. I’ll be able to give my “work” a name, a description. But for now? I am still having fun trying to find that description.
What is important? To me? Love; family, friends, the boy, the love you can share with strangers, simply by smiling at them. Creativity; through photography, baking, crafting, performing. Exploring; travelling, learning, discovering new things. The most important things to me are the little things in life; I believe that all the little things add up to make the big picture. Each day, I try to find and appreciate the little things, whether that be a cup of tea, a text from a friend, or spending some time with our cat, every little thing is important.
If you want, feel free to answer the questions above; your answers will probably give us a peek into your life and the way you think. Sharing is becoming something great. If you answer on your blog, leave a comment below, or leave your answers in the comments.
The whole time I have been writing this, it has been tipping buckets of rain down outside, but now the sunshine is trying to break through the clouds; I love Spring weather like this, it resembles life. I hope you are having a lovely Wednesday, remember to let sunshine into your life.
A photograph from last summer, when I was learning to let the sunshine back into my life.
Happy 5 Year Anniversary to the boy and I…we had a lovely evening and half of the next day in Brighton. Here’s to many more 5 years…
Hello my lovelies. I know I have been absent for a little while, and Sunday Night Inspiration didn’t happen, but life has kept me busy. On Sunday, the boy and I drove down to Brighton for a little celebratory trip. We have been “us” for 5 years. Happily united in our weirdness. This is just a little post, to say that I am still here, and to share a couple of pictures that are now up there with my favourites; and I will be back very soon, once I have finished all my photo editing. I hope that you have all had a wonderful weekend, full of smiles. Happy Tuesday!
“Those who can laugh without cause have either found the true meaning of happiness or have gone stark raving mad.” ~ Norm Papernick. I think, with us, it’s a bit of both. It’s almost 5 years of “us” being in existence, and I am still so happy. Warning: a gushy, loved-up post might come later this week. Just warning y’all.
This weekend, I am in Norfolk. Currently, I am sat by myself, on a beautiful, sandy beach, enjoying the moment. “10 Things I Love” might be a little late this week; if I get a chance, I’ll do it over the weekend, or it might have to wait until I’m home on Sunday night. Wherever you are, I hope you have a lovely weekend; I am sure that I will.
This week, I am feeling incredibly inspired…and I want to share with you some of the things that are making me smile.
1 ♥ Heidi Darwish has welcomed a new life into her world…and it’s a beautiful moment.
2 ♥ A breath of Fresh Air…it’s important.
3 ♥ Dreams are hard to follow, but they are worth it…and Alex always makes me feel like I can do it.
“Don’t lose who you are in the blur of the stars!
Seeing is deceiving, dreaming is believing,
It’s okay not to be okay.
Sometimes it’s hard to follow your heart.
Tears don’t mean you’re losing, everybody’s bruising,
Just be true to who you are!”
- “Who You Are” by Jessie J
4 ♥ Kate. She always seems to have kind words to offer, gentle encouragement to give, and a cross-Atlantic friendship to grow. She gave me some lovely words the other day, and I want to keep them close.
“Chasing your dreams is scary. Yes, it’s also very exciting. The best thing I can offer you is: don’t try to take on the whole thing all at once. You’ve identified what you want to do. Have that as your ultimate goal, but take baby steps towards it. If you don’t do this, you’ll start to feel overwhelmed and want to give up. Life is a journey, not a race. Enjoy the journey that you’re on as you make your way towards your dream. ♥”
5 ♥ Flashmob proposal…at Disney. (There’s no subtitles, but the actual flashmob and proposal need no words).
6 ♥ Theo Gosselin. Who is Scout? introduced me to the wonders of his photography, and it was one of those times when you fall in love with the way someone sees the world. It’s happened to me a few times before; I’ve read the lyrics to a song, read a breathtaking book, seen an amazing film, gorge on some beautiful photography…but this time was different. This time, it lit a fire inside of me, and made me determined to follow my own dream.
7 ♥ Dreaming, and planning. Today has been spent in this way.
8 ♥ The act of shaping your world; it’s making me excited for things to come.
9 ♥ Memories. I miss my beautiful Georgie lady, but she’s in a better place now. It was hard to say goodbye to her, but I can now treasure the memories from all the years we had her with us.
10 ♥ Love. It’s been making me smile a lot over the last few days. It isn’t always full of smiles, but it’s full of love, and that is one of the most important things that needs to be present in a relationship. We’re coming up to our 5 year anniversary soon…and although we had to scrap our plans of a weekend in Paris, it will be spent in close proximity to a beach: our plan is to make a mad dash to a decent stretch, grab some fish ‘n’ chips, and spend some time together after family commitments are over. Love, eh, what a funny, addictive thing it is.
The boy is a sweetheart, and I’m not just saying that. When my ear infection was pretty bad, he turned up at my house with another bunch of flowers (I now have two bunches in my room) and some Galaxy chocolate. Plus, he also watched The Notebook with me, the first time I’ve managed to get him to watch it! I’d say that all ranks pretty high in the sweetheart stakes, right…?
Love; what a funny, odd thing it is. It offers great highs, and great lows too. Really, I am quite lucky, as I have had the boy in my life for nearly 5 years now, and we’re the kind of people who just go well together. We give each other the space to live our own lives, separately, and then when we join together…it all slots into place. We try not to impose on one another’s lives, and accept that at times we do need space, because then when we meet again, we feel better for having had that space. In the last few years, we have both gone through big changes in our lives, but as you transition from teenagedom to adulthood, these changes have to happen; you have to grow, you have to learn, and how can you do that without experiencing the changes and mistakes you go through? These days, we settle into a comfortable routine when we’re together, and I like it. When you can sit in silence with someone, and not feel uncomfortable, then you know you have a keeper.
Love comes in many forms though, and I have a lot of love in my life. I love my family, I love my friends, I love people that come back into my life after however many years. It is all different, yet relative. The love I experience comes from within, and it is shared with those in my life. I love people, despite their faults, because I accept, wholeheartedly, that we all have faults, and it is these faults that make us different. I try not to point people’s faults out, and I try to accept them as a whole, to love them as a whole, and not think about their bad points, but instead love their good points. However, like most things in life, it is a lot easier said than done. As much as I love the boy, I do get annoyed with him, and vice-versa. But it’s okay, because after a few moments of being annoyed, we brush it off and move on. It’s not always the case though, and I know that as well.
It’s just that I always try to treat others how I wish to be treated; that is just the way my parents raised me, and I love that they raised me in this way. It gives me the chance to go out into the world, and hopefully get back what I put out there… I look around me sometimes, and I see cracks in relationships; I can clearly see how some relationships unravel, and at times it is impossible to put the pieces back together. Some people depend on each other too much, to the point where it suffocates one of them, or even both of them. Some people become far too caught up in the bubble that their relationship exists in, and are oblivious to the things that are happening around them. I’ve often seen relationships, whether it be a romantic one or friends, as a balancing act. Give and take. The scales tip, and they have to be tipped back. Sometimes they tip too far in one direction, and it never gets balanced again. And that is the great shame of it all, because no one enters a relationship with this in mind, you enter a relationship with the best of intentions, and you hope for the best.
Which is why I try to water my relationships, just as you would with flowers. I tend to them. I give them my best intentions. If the scales tip, I attempt to tip them back to their rightful place. It’s just hard sometimes, and we are all human…we make mistakes, we get hurt, we do things without thinking…it’s just the way we are. I guess I just wish that some people would see that, instead of throwing words out, like throwing their dummy out of the pram. It’s been a year, and no contact. I feel both happy and sad, at the same time. Happy, because the people around me now, are the people who I hope are here to stay, and sad, because of mistakes, and wasted time. Maybe that’s life, though? Maybe sometimes it is happy and sad? Maybe happiness isn’t always pure, and maybe it is sometimes born out of sadness? It grows, and it can come after a period of pain. A sad kind of happy?
That’s not to say, though, that I’m not happy. I am happy. I am happy with the choices I have made thus far in life, I am happy with where I am heading, and I am happy with the people in my life. The people in my life colour my life. They are my rainbows. I just know that life is hard, and I am acutely aware of the struggles that some people have to go through; I am aware of the pain that comes before happiness. I have grown, and I know a lot more about the world, and the people in it, than I did this time last year. It’s not a bad thing, and I’m glad to have learnt it, it’s one of those “life lessons”. Hey, that’s life, right? We win some, we lose some. We grow. We fall. We fail. We learn. Grow some more. Ebb and flow.
Just know this; I love you, I do, I do. Never doubt that.
I have a thing for yellow flowers…and the boy knows this…hence, for our anti-valentine’s day, he got me these. He got me flowers, just because he wanted to, and I made us dinner…just because I wanted to. Why save all your love for one day of the year, when there are 364 other days when you can say “I love you” too…? Either way, I love you, yellow flowers. And I guess I love the boy too…
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