i went to dinner with some friends the other night. we sat on the back patio of a restaurant, overlooking the railroad tracks where i had played as a child. it was the second set of tracks - farthest from the backyard. the ones that bordered the area where we got our Christmas trees. where Poppy took us to fly kites. where memories were made. my memories are likely distorted (as is prone to happen between ages 8 and 32), but they're mine and i'll take them and hold on to them for as long as i'm allowed. for many years i've wanted to wander back through those woods and over those tracks. i do it so often in my mind.

i pray that when you go walking through the days and years of your past, you find happiness and love and laughter and contentment. i pray that you are able to let go of the bad and rejoice in the good.

that your dreams are perfectly skewed.