Thoughts on Life

Fitting In....

You can't just take an albatross and stick it in a room of geese and expect it to feel like it belongs. Who cares if they have feathers? Beaks? None of that matters.
You can't expect that albatross to get along with the eagles, or the condors, or the falcons, even when they all can fly for long distances.
You can't expect an albatross to feel comfortable with flamingos, or an emu, or even to feel comfortable with other sea birds. Pelicans? No.
You see, the albatross needs other albatrosses. It needs those capable of flying beside it for the long periods it has to fly, eating what it eats, and loving the sky the way it loves the sky.
Forget this whole, "birds can all get along because they have feathers" idea, and start viewing the individuals as their own.


Long Distance...

Distance. Does it matter? Does it matter how faraway someone has gotten from you when you really love them? No. No, it doesn't matter. But, over time, your life develops in ways that they no longer fit quite right into it.
You can't expect the painter to continue his painting when you decided to get up halfway through. His memory will try to recreate your presence, but as he adds layers, and colors, once you come to sit back down, I guarantee your shadow will be in the wrong place, and the colors have gone from sunrise to sunset.
Can you still be apart of his painting? Maybe. But it could ruin the masterpiece he created alone.


Dreaming...

Dreams are for those who are brave; if you aren't brave, don't dream. Just exist. If you want to test the limits of what you can do, become, and create, you have to dream. You have to have a dream, hold the dream, and learn that sometimes having a dream is like trying to give birth to a lawn chair. Sometimes it's not only going to be painful, but the edges start looking impossible, and you start feeling like it no longer matters.
Ignore that.
If I gave up on my dreams I'd probably be married, have a kid and possibly a second child on the way, broke, and unhappy. Instead, I have a dream, and I'm going to fight until I see it's glorious birth into this place we call reality.


Patience...

Suppose you are baking a cake, and it smells already so delicious, and you decide to take it out 15 minutes before time.
It's like warm cake pudding.
Sure, it probably tastes delightful.
But it's not a cake.
Patience must be one of the greatest virtues, for surely it's one of the hardest to attain and hold onto. We all love cake, and we all love eating, and we all love things that smell good; we're also usually impatient. We have to learn to take things as they come, give things time, and of course, once it resembles a cake we have to decide if we are going to eat it then, or let it cool and add icing.
Letting things develop in their own due time is a terrible feeling when we want it all "right now". I want so many things right now, but I learned, the oven door has to stay closed sometimes, and I just have to wait.
In the meantime, I'll set the table, get out the party napkins, and choose the icing color.
The cake is coming, the timer just hasn't stopped yet.


~Elizabeth Azpurua