#cornfields

[midwestbelladonna]

corn fields blurring past me

[magicalmoon989]

A satisfied life is more beautiful than a successful one. Success is seen by the world, but satisfaction is felt by your soul. ☀️

[highways-are-liminal-spaces]

Wisconsin, between Chicago and Minneapolis in the late summer

[heartlikehome]

[sangcounty]

Love in the Prairie State

[atleastimstillsedated]

Hey, since it's summer, what are some of your favorite summer memories? I feel like everyone has a good summer story. The best movies usually are set in the summer.

As much as I love questions that make me think, questions like this are incredibly difficult for me thanks to my ADHD brain and a bad case of decision paralysis. Anyone that knows me, knows not to ask me to pick a favorite of anything. There's about five things in this world that I can name a favorite for and unfortunately a summer memory is just not one of those things🫨🫨

I had so many wonderful summer memories from my childhood. I grew up next to a huge park system and when I was little we spent the summers running the park as if it was our own backyard🌳🌲 And there were ice cream places on either side of my neighborhood 🍨 So many days spent at either one of those places. Getting sticky and on a sugar high giggling with my family or my friends🍦

My dad always grew the garden in the summer. I would wait until the cherry tomatoes were just about ready and I would crawl out there on my hands and knees so that he couldn't see me. I would lay on my tummy or sometimes on my back and eat the cherry tomatoes off of the bottom of his plants. To this day he still thinks it was those damn rabbits 🍅🐇🤭

My oldest sister lives in Jersey City but for most of my life she lived in NYC so I have many summer memories of going to visit her there. The smells, the sounds, the excitement. 🗽🚕

The one and only place I find complete peace. Where everything stops hurting. Everything slows down. Everything stops haunting me. My brain goes quiet and the grief stops, is Niagara Falls. Sitting next to the water and listening to the power of it. Smelling it. Feeling the mist hit my face and the sun on my skin. It's almost like the air is electrical. I can almost feel my entire body vibrating from the force of the water. It's the only thing that can make me feel that way. So I have spent many summer weekends allowing myself that freedom. That peace. That silence I find within the roar of the water 🌊

And then there was the summer of 2021. COVID was finally not so scary. I was finally able to take my son on vacation. We hopped in the car with no plan in mind. We just picked a place every day we wanted to go and headed that way. We went to 5 states in 5 days. On the last stop of that vacation I took him to see my most magical place on earth. The look of shock and awe on his face when he saw the power of the water and felt the sun and mist on his skin was so similar to my own and I knew that I had just shared a secret with him no one else ever could... because no one else understands him the way I do. I could see by the look on his face that his brain was quiet too💚🙏

I have so many summer memories. I can't possibly pick one. But I'm hoping that you'll be able to tell that I took the entire day and really thought about your question and I'm giving you the best answer that I can. And I hope that it still allows you to see a peek at the girl behind the blog✌️

[yalagator]

Back in Ohio

photos by me

[paisleyfinch]

i'll think of you early