Shadow

     With my headphones in my ears and hands in my pockets, I walked along every path on campus, kicking stones and acorns along the way. How was I going to decide what to do if my parents couldn't even agree upon what I should do? Was I selfish for wanting the semester in London? How would I feel if something happened to my dad while I was gone?
     I wandered back to the middle of campus, where I had started my campus trek. Dim orange lights from the student center shined on the grey cement blocks that made up the ground I was standing on. The music playing in my ears was a steady hum as I watched my shadow change shape while I walked toward my dorm. I suddenly found myself in a movie moment again, this one more pleasant, as I realized I had made my decision.
     Watching my shadow bend and morph on the different blocks of cement during my walk, I realized that my shadow represented me in more ways than just being the outline of my body in the light. It changed sizes and shapes, depending on the angle of the light and the texture of the ground. No matter how dim the light was or how jagged the ground was, my shadow was always stretched out next to me. My shadow adapted to the circumstances and always remained at my side.
     At this moment in my life, I had an opportunity in front of me, and I was going to take it. Just as my shadow faced different situations that night on the cement, I was going to face different circumstances in my life that won't always be easy. No matter the light or the terrain, my shadow was always next to me, fighting to be seen. Walking back to my dorm, I knew that I had to follow the example of my shadow. Although I was in the midst of a very difficult decision, I knew that I had to go to London. I wasn't going to give up on my dream,
     Today, I am packing my two 30' suitcases for London, hoping that I made the right decision....

Movie Moment

Within minutes, I felt as though the air was draining from my lungs like a deflating balloon. I was walking on a patch of grass in the middle of a busy campus on a sunny beautiful day, but suddenly it wasn't so picture perfect anymore. It seemed as if the sky began to darken and the people around me faded into a blur. It was a scene straight out of a movie, and it was scary.
     I sat down in the middle of the grass, people walking all around me, with my jaw sinking increasingly closer to the ground, my eyes growing gradually wider in disbelief. "I have [insert life threatening disease here]," my dad told me. Immediately my eyes filled up with tears, like a dam ready to burst.
     Looking back, I still can't remember exactly what he told me after he told me about his disease. I remember the coarseness of the grass in my fingers as I gripped the ground tight with one hand. I remember the bright sun that lit up my world, even though it seemed to be crashing down.

Wise Tree

Standing tall in the center of the neighborhood
     it seemed that the oak had been there before the people.
The roots dig deep into the ground
     and stretch far underneath the road.
A few dozen branches grow for miles in every direction
     while thick green leaves hang on it like Christmas decorations.
Thousands of acorns cover the ground
     a resounding crunch echoes each step.
Eyes have formed out of the dark creviced wood
     as the bark tells a story of generations past.


The large oak towers over all; tree of knowledge in my front yard.

Country Club Wives

Thin, tan, manicured - 

     words which describe ever single one of them.

Their children screaming while they divulge in drama

     over frozen drinks, poolside.

Some wear tiny bikinis, other wear floppy hats,

     even others wear a child on their hip.

Each of them decorated with a massive rock

     that sends blinding light as it catches the sun.

Little ones nipping at their ankles

     as they go for round two at the bar.

They chirp at each other and at their children

     like a choir of birds singing high in the treetops.

Daily visits to the pool with their children

     is the only obligation that they have.

Thin, tan, manicured.

Yes, they are beautiful women, with handsome husbands

     and wonderful children.

The perfect carefree life, full of promises that were not kept,

     goals that were not finished, and dreams that were not chased.

College Anxiety

      There were few places that Kelly felt more comfortable at than her childhood wooden swing set. A few years back she and her friends had broken it when they piled six or seven girls on it at the same time, so tonight Kelly had no swing to swing on. Instead she sat on the patchy grass where the childhood monument used to be, iPod ear buds in, munching on stale Cheetos.
     Despite her efforts to calm herself, her mind raced. Two mornings from now she would be sitting in her first college class at a school she knew she was going to hate. She moved in a week ago for soccer camp and decided that she had chosen the wrong school within 20 minutes of arriving to move in.
     Kelly ripped her nails apart with her teeth one by one. She wasn't used to feeling this uncomfortable. She was used to her posse of high school friends blindly following her every move, and her parents giving her what she wanted just to appease her for the day. Now her friends were all at different schools and everyone except her seemed to be enjoying themselves. Meanwhile, her parents believed that she was simply throwing another tantrum to get attention.
     She hit the up button on her iPod a few times to down out the sound of the crickets chirping.

Two Cities

Walking down the streets, I couldn't help but notice the red, white and blue decorating nearly every corner. Every light colored building shines in the sun as men and women in suits walk in and out of large metal doors. How different it looks from my hometown, which is less busy and less bright, and much more hilly. My hometown is not full of politicians and congressmen, but its workers are the blue-collared kind. Each city has its own story and own heart; that city remembers the red, white and blue at all hours of the day, and mine holds the black and gold as a religion. Each is beautiful in its own way and while I bleed black and gold, I hope I can bask in the red, white and blue someday.

Keeping Secrets

Swinging higher and higher, time moves faster and faster.
A shiny beer can under the slide catches her eye in the morning sun,
little does she know in a few short years this playground will become her late night safe haven.
Now home to laughter, sunlight and youth, soon doubles as a getaway for deceit, sex, and alcohol.
Swinging higher and higher, time moves faster and faster.
Today, high speed merry-go-round spinning has caused her to get sick in the bushes.
Years from now, she'll empty her stomach in the same bushes because she had too much to drink.
The red see-saw will forever hold her virginity, and the monkey bars her sobriety.
Swinging higher and hgiher, time moves faster and faster.
Source of entertainment to girls and boys of all ages, the neighborhood playgound is the best secret keeper of all.