I ran away…
Iᴛ ᴡᴀs ᴀ Tᴜᴇsᴅᴀʏ ᴀғᴛᴇʀɴᴏᴏɴ ᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛɪʀᴇᴅɴᴇss ᴡᴀs ʜᴇᴀᴘᴇᴅ ʜɪɢʜ ᴏᴠᴇʀ ᴍᴇ. 𝐒𝐨, 𝐈 𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲. I’ᴍ ɴᴏᴛ ᴇᴍʙᴀʀʀᴀssᴇᴅ ᴏʀ ᴇᴠᴇɴ ʀᴇᴍᴏᴛᴇʟʏ ᴀsʜᴀᴍᴇᴅ.
Lɪғᴇ ɪs ᴛᴏᴏ sʜᴏʀᴛ ᴛᴏ sᴘᴇɴᴅ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴅᴀʏ ᴀᴛ ᴡᴀʀ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʏᴏᴜʀ ʟɪғᴇ-ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴘᴇᴀᴄᴇ.
just look up
𝐼𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑑𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑓𝑡 & 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑐𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑔 𝑔𝑖𝑟𝑙 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝐷𝑜𝑤𝑛’𝑠 𝑠𝑦𝑛𝑑𝑟𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑝𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐 𝐸𝑅. While walking her & her father back to her room, she paused at the artwork on the wall. The automatic doors 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅 & 𝒄𝒍𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒂 ғᴇᴡ 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆𝒔 while we waited as she smiled intently at the art. Without skipping a beat, her father lightheartedly chuckled that ʜᴇ’ᴅ ʟᴇᴀʀɴᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ᴇɴᴊᴏʏ ʜɪs sᴜʀʀᴏᴜɴᴅɪɴɢs ᴍᴏʀᴇ ʙᴇᴄᴀᴜsᴇ ʜɪs ᴅᴀᴜɢʜᴛᴇʀ sᴛᴏᴘᴘᴇᴅ & ᴇɴᴊᴏʏᴇᴅ ʟɪғᴇ along the way instead of rushing from place to place.
just five minutes
𝐈 had 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 could 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐚 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞.
The year was 2012 and Ann Voskamp said I needed to walk five minutes of fresh oxygen into my cells each day(full disclosure: it was her blog post that told me-those daily blog posts coming to my phone were a lifeline). I’d been breathing through a cracked open window for two weeks in tiny snippets by that point and the idea of fresh air felt like a heap of timid amazing.
no, this is important, this matters
𝑰 𝒎𝒆𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒌. She walked up seemingly from out of nowhere and struck up conversation like we were long lost bffs. Before I knew it, her son had invited us to his birthday party at the park picnic shelter and his mama insisted we come, but no gifts necessary, she just wanted her boy to have friends at his party.