all was well

𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆, 𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆

ᴅᴏ ɴᴏᴛ ʀᴇᴍᴏᴠᴇ ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʀᴇᴅɪᴛꜱ ᴏʀ ᴘʀᴏᴍᴏᴛᴇ ʏᴏᴜʀꜱᴇʟꜰ. ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ.

untitled by emilyharriet on Flickr.

Oh. Sorry. Hello. Are you on your way to work, too? I was just taken aback by how you also have a briefcase, also small & brown. I was taken by how you seem, secretly, to love everything. Are you my new coworker? Oh. I see. No. Still, good to meet you. I’m trying out this thing where it’s good to meet people. Maybe, beyond briefcases, we have some things in common. I like jelly beans. I’m afraid of death. I’m afraid of farting, even around people I love. Do you think your mother loves you when you fart? Does your mother love you all the time? Have you ever doubted? I like that the street we’re on is named after a tree, when there are none, poplar or otherwise. I wonder if a tree has ever been named after a street, whether that worked out. If I were a street, I hope I’d get a good name, not Main or One-Way. One night I ran out of an apartment, down North Pleasant Street — it was soft & neighborly with pines & oaks, it felt too hopeful, after what happened. After my mother’s love became doubtful. After I told her I liked a boy & she wished I had never been born. After she said she was afraid of me, terrified I might infect my brothers with my abnormality. Sometimes, parents & children become the most common strangers. Eventually, a street appears where they can meet again. Or not. I’ve doubted my own love for my mother. I doubt. Do I have to forgive in order to love? Or do I have to love for forgiveness to even be possible? What do you think? I’m trying out this thing where questions about love & forgiveness are a form of work I’d rather not do alone. I’m trying to say, Let’s put our briefcases on our heads, in the sudden rain, & continue meeting as if we’ve just been given our names.

Germany, Esslingen, One of half timbered houses by m. muraskin on Flickr.

Lulworth by Joe Pepper on Flickr.

Untitled on We Heart It.

𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆, 𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆

𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆, 𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆

Cafe by saviorjosh on Flickr.

𝒍𝒐𝒗𝒆, 𝒇𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆

untitled by larrissajerome on Flickr.

Austin, TX by yossy | apt2bbakingco on Flickr.