sjsprWriting

I am daughter of nomads

Parents who couldn't stay (together)

In the same place for too long.

The thing I’m best at doing

Is leaving/moving.

I’ve never known a confined life.

My mother fed me freedom,

My father taught me courage.

I am filled with open spaces

And fields of flowers

And an ocean to escape to.

All I’ve had is space to run.

I have my father’s philosophical

Thoughts, his ability to fall

In love with everything, with life.

I have my mother’s love for words,

Her affinity for playing loud music

In the car to silence our thoughts,

To feel so consume that all I can do

Is sing and maybe, cry.

My grandfather taught me remembrance

My grandmother, the pleasure in solitude

They taught me how to make a home

Out of nothing.

Life is about what you do

With the nothings.

My sister taught me strength.

She taught me how to look at myself

In the mirror and think I had it in me.

She gave me midnight laughs and whispers

And a never ending warmth.

She taught me how to brave.

I taught myself how to love

This body, this mind, this soul.

I know how to make a home out of me,

How to chase sunsets and purple skies.

My family gave me the tools, but this,

This I built all by myself.