pursuing presence

if 2020 was the year we hemmed in the borders — of our travels, our social circles, the portions of our closet where the tight things loom — 2021 was the year we began to remember how to live. it’s been shaky, flooded with questions of do-I-know-how-to-do-this-anymore and do-I-still-like-this-shit-even trailed by every nebulous strain of free-floating existential dread, but in the rosy lens of reflection I’m reliving the moments I brushed against something else.

this was one of those moments, on a boat at sunset in santorini, the aegean-assyrtiko-affection trifecta coalescing into what our limited language tends to want to call perfection.

serena smithOctober 10, 2023presence, being present, meditation, happiness, self-reflection, self-discovery, equanimity, liberation, santorini, pandemic, healing, inner voice, burnout, psychedelicsComment

to sisterhood

what a year, sis. it’s one we did and didn’t see coming – a year of planned milestones and unanticipated hard lefts, as we recalibrated our careers, our bad habits, our notions of what we want.

it strikes me we’ve been trafficking in polarities, where weekendlong sorority sleepovers met hours spent mining the realities that accompany age. we pretended we were younger, had different names, fewer questions – and then woke up grateful for the shades of grey we occupy.

love lettersserena smithOctober 10, 2023sisterhood, friendship, growth, evolution, self-discovery, aging, female friendshipComment

musings