“I stay because I am not the only one who has felt like this. I stay because I want to fall in love. I stay because there are countless nights ahead of my friends and I laughing until our sides ache. I stay because I haven’t danced at enough concerts. I stay because my family and I still have stories to write. I stay because my voice has thousands of songs left to sing. I stay because I need to feel the warmth of summer again and again. I stay because I don’t want life to move ahead without me. I stay because I am supposed to be here. And most of all, I stay for the reasons that I have yet to discover, knowing that I move closer to them with every breath.”
— Catherine Calabrese, “And So I Stay”














