dewdrops

“It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

“That awkward moment when you realize you’ve lived your entire life inside of a picture.” ~Peregrine Storke~ It was raining when my mother pulled up to the simple two-level brick home. Drops of water pounded on the roof of her beat up red Toyota, the sound both ominous and comfortable, before tunneling down her windows in rivers and tiny tributaries. The damp infiltrated the interior, soaking my skin despite the vehicle surrounding us. Rain was never simple this time of year in Louisiana. It always came followed by lightning, thunder, and a myriad of warnings. Leaves blew against the windshield, still full and green from summer, and I watched as one of them stuck against the glass, the leaf’s veins prominent. I wanted to sketch the way it looked now, alone and surrounded by tears, but there was no time. “Don’t forget to call me when you get there,” Mom murmured. Her knuckles were white against the steering wheel, her lips pinched. She wouldn’t cry. Mom seldom cried, she”
― R.K. Ryals, The Story of Awkward

“Remember, the way we perceive ourselves is often nothing like what we really are,”
― R.K. Ryals, The Story of Awkward

“Love and hate were the opposite of each other not because they were on the other end of the spectrum, fighting against each other, but because they had once gotten along so well, that the distance after the dust settled turned them into enemies. Love knew all the good parts of hate. Hate knew all the bad parts of love.”
― Leeann M. Shane, The Tomboy & the Rebel