Water Petals

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  ISBN: 978-0-5785840-4-1

  Chapters

  1. Love

  2. Live

  3. Pain

  4. Heal

  5. Grow

  6. Me

  7. Inspire

  For my momma.

  You have always supported me and

  encouraged me to follow my dreams.

  Thank you.

  Throughout my life, I found myself comparing my journey to nature and all of its elements. Perhaps it is because I have always felt a connection to nature and she always knew how to bring the most out of me. It began with a fire that burned inside me, fueled by real and raw emotions. The fire burned hot and bright and when it was over, there was nothing left but darkness and ashes. When the heat finally settled, a cool breeze past by me. I remembered for the first time in a long time, what that had even felt like. A big wave of water crashed over me and with every drop, a feeling of calmness and clarity came over me. Where there is water, there is life, and with that life, sprouted a little stem. A small piece of life making its way into the world. Braving fire, water, and whatever came her way. She knew that the only way was up and that is exactly where she was determined to go. This was her journey, to grow. To become a new version and the best version of herself yet. Reborn, through the fire and storms, she stood tall. There was a time where she may have felt saddened by her experiences and the things she has endured. She realizes now that it was all a necessary part of her journey. It was exactly what she had to do, to become the person she was always meant to be. This is what she was born to do. There, inside her all along, waiting for a light to shine that would allow her to blossom. She became a strong rose, believing in herself, growing as tall as the skies, reaching her wildest dreams.

  My entire life I have always looked up at the sky. I thought the white clouds floating across the blue sky was so simple and yet still, so beautiful. When the days were long and I was riled, at least I could look up and see this wonderous abyss. In these moments, I found myself escaping my own reality and beginning to day dream. My mind wanders and I become lost in my own creations. I think about all the possibilities in the world. I always thought that I was more of a realistic person, just living an ordinary life. When I looked up at those clouds and that blue sky, I discovered I was a dreamer. I had so many more of these ideas that were just taking space somewhere inside my mind, waiting for the sun to shine on them. I look around and see all the nature that is surrounding me and I feel content. Tall trees are blowing in the wind, the smell of springtime passes by, and the warm sunlight touches my skin. This is a moment of pure bliss. I have discovered something inside of myself and it is almost as if the world is showing me too. I am more than just that realistic girl and I cannot wait to learn more about her. After many more self discovery moments taking place, usually surrounded by nature, I have discovered myself. A version of myself that I never even knew before. What I realized even more was that this was an important part of myself that I needed to know. It is as if my mind has connected with my soul, and together, they have shared many unique experiences. I allowed myself to open up my mind, body, and soul to the world. I have learned to heal through my pain, appreciate my journey, and allow love into my heart every day. Life has taught me many lessons and because of them, I was able to truly grow as a person. I have also been able to really understand all of the blessings in my life and that has made me more grateful every day. My dream is to hopefully inspire those around me. Men, women, adults, children, all ages, all races, all people. I have found myself through writing and I want to encourage others to find themselves too. I believe in the power of writing and all the wonderful things that it can do. I believe in many things and my biggest belief in life are people. I hope to bring people together with the written word to help them in anyway that I can. To seek inspiration, to find answers and inspire them to find themselves. Discover a part of them they did not know was there and connect them to someone else who shares their passions. To explore life, to find love, and to be thankful for every day. This is my journey, this is my heart, and soul. I share it all with you.

  1. Love

  This is a feeling that we are introduced to from birth and some might say even before that. We are born into love, we are surrounded by love, we encompass love. This is all we know. It is a celebration of life and every day is a blessing. We are born and we are the reason why, in that moment, others feel love. This is the first emotion that we feel as a human being. How to love and what exactly that means. How to give and express love and also how to receive love. How to make sense of a feeling and try and explain that feeling. How a feeling can cause other actions or feelings? We see love everywhere and every day. In other people’s lives and in our own. Love is a constantly evolving emotion that makes its way through the lives of many. This great feeling and emotion that makes up human beings. To feel love is to understand its meaning. How you can describe and define it but to feel it is an entirely different understanding of the term. To be swept away by love, surprised by love, taken away and driven by love. To share this feeling with someone is almost unexplainable.

  A concept we understand from birth but an experience we are never prepared for. When you are so in love with someone, that you only think of this other person. The moment when you realize you are in love, it consumes you. It fills you up with joy and happiness and you are completely taken by love. Your heart beats faster, your blood begins to pump, your body becomes warmer, your adrenaline is going, and your mind is racing with memories of this person, who they are and how much you love them. You are not sure how it happened, how long it will last, or if it will happen again, but this physical and emotional experience makes you who you are. Love makes us understand a little more of what being human really means. I think it means to put love before anything else. That is the concept that we were born into and that is the first thing we understood as humans. I believe, that is the only thing we need in this life, to continue to be ourselves and to be human. It is to love.

  Dear Momma

  You have shown me so many things

  Taught me lessons about love and life

  What I have learned the most from you

  Is what it means to have strength

  How it is not just about being strong

  To be unapologetically yourself

  Following the stars

  Always following your heart

  Protecting and loving is your nature

  That is what you are made of

  Miracles and super powers

  An ear to listen and understand

  A voice of reason in my ears

  Shoulders for heads and tears

  Every single thing in between

  I can never thank you enough

  For you and all of your love

  Supporting and encouraging me

  To believe in my dreams

  To work hard every day

  Never let anything stand in my way

  Being a part of my journey along the way

  There will never be enough words to say

  I love you momma

  Little Men

  I remember the day you were both born

  Like it was just yesterday

  All of the hearts were warm

  You both looked right at me

  Bright blue skies

  Deep horizon eyes

  How they looked back at mine

  The most perfect little human

  Holding my finger in your hand

  Right then I just knew

  I would be anything you needed

  Not stop until you succeeded

  Always stand by your side

  Never letting you fall

  When I held you for the first time

  I knew this love could last lifetimes

  You are forever in my heart

  I am always your biggest fan

  I love you both so much

  My little perfect men

  Darling

  You have so many wonderful gifts

  And contain so much strength

  So brave and still so kind

  Stealing hearts with just one look

  That is what you did to me

  That is perfectly fine by me

  You are so beautiful and sweet

  Like a perfect angel on earth

  You touch everyone you meet

  Smiles happen accidentally

  Like the sun shining on a rainy day

  You are going to do amazing things

  I cannot wait to watch your journey

  Seeing you grow every day

  You are such a blessing to me

  My love for you is everlasting

  I hope that you always know

  I will keep you safe with me darling

  Roots

  Like a beautiful tree

  Grounded and strong

  You are the roots of me

  Because of you, I stand tall

  Growing everyday

  Learning to find my way

  Like a forest, filled with trees

  Standing together as one

  You have created a family

  Strong to survive the storm
s

  Through the rain and thunder

  We will not never fall

  That is because we have you

  The strongest of them all

  You support us all

  Blessed by you

  Our roots

  My Sister

  I will never know how you became this person

  Inspiring all those around you

  Caring for everyone

  Teaching our future

  It is becoming a brighter place

  All because of you

  You helped raised me

  I thank you for the days

  Where you sacrificed for me

  Even when I did not see you

  I know you were watching over me

  That must have been when you knew

  You were capable of it all

  Building others up

  Not allowing anyone to fall

  Because of you I am me

  Through all you have shown me

  I thank you forever

  My beautiful sister

  Aunty

  It may seem like a simple thought

  That does not make it any less true

  There is no one quite like you

  How you are so strong and loving

  While also fiery and sweet

  Will always go beyond me

  You are always there

  Especially there for me

  You understand me

  In a way that no one else can

  Our bond is special

  I am eternally grateful

  For all that you do

  Reminding me to stay true

  Helping me get through

  For being you

  Bubbles

  Your heart is made of gold

  It is completely filled with love

  You give people what they need

  Laughter and hugs

  You always took care of me

  Giving me life advice

  Always with a smile

  Always so nice

  For teaching me

  That I can be more than one thing

  Reminding me of true love

  To never let go of my dreams

  That things do not always appear as they seem

  Thank you for being you

  For showing me love

  My dear aunt barb

  Warrior

  She radiates beauty

  Like the rays from the sun

  Her hair as soft as sand

  With crystal like eyes

  There is more underneath

  This beautiful surface

  A strength inside

  That holds her tight

  A fire that burns

  Becoming motivation

  Overcoming so much

  More than anyone should know

  She is a born fighter

  But a lover inside

  She knows war

  She fights for love

  Taking everything she knows

  She continues to grow

  Young Love

  Innocent and sweet

  Nerves and clammy hands

  The very beginning

  Of everything

  To feel love this way

  For the very first time

  Makes you feel

  Like an adult

  You crave more

  You will have more

  Right now just enjoy

  The little kisses

  Love notes and songs

  Pictures on binders

  Matching bracelets

  Holding hands

  Mixtapes and CDS

  Playlists of love

  Dances and dates

  Even first base

  Innocence

  When we met, we were just children

  I think our hearts knew before we did

  That one day we would be together

  We were so young and in love

  The kind that people only dream of

  And we had it with each other

  You were always there for me

  You showed me what true love means

  And you never asked for anything in return

  The simplest things were the most meaningful

  A love that was unconditional

  The pure and innocent kind

  I know what we had was real

  I will always hold you close to me

  And hope that sometimes you think of me

  First Love

  Someone I could talk to about anything

  Listening and understanding

  Always there when I needed it

  Most of the time without me even asking

  You had a way of just knowing exactly what to do

  You were so natural at everything

  Everything you touched turned pure

  A cosmic energy that surrounded you

  You brought happiness around you

  You allowed me to be myself

  Even though we were so young

  I have never been more of myself

  Then when I was with you

  You showed me patience

  And most importantly love

  Kissing in the rain

  Taking care of each other

  Making sacrifices so young

  Planning for a forever that neither of us was ready for

  Taking adventures together

  Holding each other’s hand

  And never letting go

  That is exactly what you have taught me

  And that is what I will promise to do

  Is to hold on

  Not only to our memories

  But onto the place that I hold for you

  Inside of my heart where you first made your mark

  The very first and the most important

  All of these things are what you are

  The things you gave to me

  I could never thank you enough

  For proving what true love can be

  Not Ready to Fall

  You took me to places that I had never been before

  You opened up and showed me yourself

  There was something in you that I wanted to explore

  I was too young to know what I was doing

  I never knew how much time we would have

  Especially not knowing where it was going

  You were afraid of getting hurt

  I was fearful that I could be capable

  I know it is not what you deserved

  I wanted so badly to fall for you

  But I never let myself get to that place

  I think it’s because I was scared too

  Diving Deeper

  I could always feel you looking at me

  But I never knew what you were thinking

  And then one day, we would just be

  Our friendship became something much greater

  It was the kind of love that we could not explain

  We dived in head first going deeper and deeper

  But our love was beginning to fade too fast

  It was quicker than I could see coming

  I yearned for our love to continue to last

  I will think of our times together

  How our friendship developed into love

  Those moments that last forever

  Trying for Forever

  I thought maybe this was our destiny

  Because we somehow found our way back

  We were given another chance to see

  We fell in love exactly the same as before

  With the person we had known all along

  But there was something we could not ignore

  Something that existed from the past

  With neither one of us able to understand

  We were unable to make it last

  I will always remember you

  How we really did try for love

  Our journey that we went through

  When Souls Meet

  When our eyes first met I knew

  You were someone special to me

  I had never met anyone like you

  You had this unexplainable energy

  Like a bright light in a dark room

  I just wanted it close to me

  It was like my soul knew yours

  Waiting to finally meet

  Who it had been in search for

  We could be anything together