Blue Ridge Parkway through North Carolina, October 2022
Last month I had a mountain day trip with one of my best friends to an area we've visited together many times over the years. We met when we were still kids. Despite living far apart for multiple periods of time, life has always brought us back to one another, and we understand each other despite our differences. Maybe in a way that only someone who has known you since childhood can.
We both have a strong affinity for the mountain air and I remember each of our day trips so vividly. We've unexpectedly run into both snow (which was magical) and ice (which was borderline terrifying). We have shared hours and hours of music and conversation on those roads. One year while we were in the Asheville area, I decided I had an idea and I wanted to get a tattoo that day and without skipping much of a beat she basically said, "okay, I know a guy up here" and she made it happen. It was my first tattoo and it's actually still the only tattoo I have. I still love it as much as I did the day I got it.
This time we caught the leaves at the perfect time, the whole ride was orange and red. All the bikers were out, but we enjoyed that. The place we chose for dinner on the way home was permanently closed, so we improvised, as we often do, and ended up at a place with a wide variety of enchiladas. We talked about some hard things over dinner, because life is hard sometimes, but that's why we have our friends and the mountains.
If I keep loving myself tenderly
Will it start to feel familiar?
Somehow it always feels unnatural,
Like a second language I should have learned
When I was young.
jbbartram-illu
dededos
germansingergirl
kianamaiart
annaxmalina
andulkaphoto
