Dearest gentle reader,

So much has happened since I last put pen to paper. Twelve years have elapsed, I believe, and in those twelve years, life has changed rather dramatically!

I have brought two human beings into this world, married, earned a master's degree, purchased a home, traveled extensively, and built a career that I am rather proud of, if I may say so myself.

And yet, for all that has changed, so much of who I am remains remarkably untouched by time. Somewhere beneath the responsibilities, milestones, and inevitable disillusionments of adulthood, still lives that young, doe-eyed girl who once idealized, well, just about everything.

She is, perhaps, a little bit wiser and stronger now, a touch more cynical, and certainly less easily impressed. But she remains, against all odds, a romantic and a dreamer at heart. 

I am reminded of the words that my eighth grade Spanish teacher inscribed in a poetry book of hers I purchased over twenty years ago: "Que siempre seas un lienzo de bondad en este mundo cruel." / "May you always be a canvas of kindness in this cruel world." 

I often wonder what she saw in me when she wrote those words. Perhaps something I have spent much of my adult life trying not to lose. For I, dearest gentle reader, have certainly experienced my fair share of heartbreak and disappointment. And yet, despite it all, I continue to look for the good in people, even as the world seems increasingly determined to prove me wrong.  

At the end of the day,  no matter how different we all are, I believe that we are all searching for much of the same things: to build a life we can look back on with pride, to make meaningful connections, to love and be loved, and to feel that our existence has mattered in some way. Sounds corny, I know...

Perhaps that is why, after twelve years, I find myself putting pen to paper once more. Not because I now have something particularly compelling or extraordinary to share, but because somewhere between the demands of adulthood, I realized how much I missed the simple pleasure of putting my thoughts into words. 

I remain oh-so-curious about human nature, the peculiarities of relationships, and this wonderfully complicated business of being alive. There is still so much I wish to understand about the world, about others, and perhaps most all, about myself. But what better way to make sense of it all than to write? 

And so, dearest gentle reader, here I am again. A  few more gray hairs, a little bit "softer", hopefully a little wiser, but still blessed (or perhaps cursed) with a talent for overthinking absolutely everything. I do hope you'll join me for the ride.

Currently listening to: City of Stars - From "La La Land" Soundtrack

Currently reading: Klara and the Sun, by Kazuo Ishiguro