Hey girl hey! We will be living our best life here in 2024. I know you are crying, sobbing and about to throw in the towel. Like the old Negro spiritual says, “Hold on just a little while longer”! You look in the mirror every day and smile but behind it, there’s sadness. Sis I know it’s hard, I am you, you are me, and we ar…read more
Tracy- you powerful, brilliant, loving human. I hope this letter finds you well. What are the views like there? Look around. Breathe. Lean back wherever you are planted and soak this in. Deep inhale. Hold it- release. Your breathing is so important, my love. It will carry you, this air. You must allow yourself to slow down that all-absorbing heart…read more
Dear future self:
Please don’t forget about the old me…
I know you’re ashamed of me in this current
Stage.
But I am growing and changing…
Addressing the darkness I’ve been hiding for so long in order to protect everyone.
I knew I’d make it,
And be the person I always saw myself as
Please acknowledge that my years of brokenness
Have lead to thi…read more
Have we done it? Are we happy? I so badly hope we’ve made it. I so badly hope you look back at this time and laugh because of how different you’ve become. I hope your laugh echoes in every room you walk into. I hope that when you wake up you find beauty in the way that the sunlight tickles your face as it shines through the bed…read more
Not a second apart… born 1lbs and 13oz, you were there with me from the second I was born. You were there when I was first put on oxygen — not getting to see where I lived until Three months after May 23, 1996.
You were there when I first cried through those doors, it was you who lifted my head, letting me familiarize mys…read more
she doesn’t call us that anymore , she hasn’t since we were 13. such a long time ago , feels like a century . we got through our “terrible” twenties and made it to our thriving thirties , i’m hoping we did . I am hoping we made it to 23, 26 , 38 , 54 ,67 . do the words that mother said still matter to us and linger in our heart ?…read more
the unsealed
Write a letter to your future self
500-800 words
This morning you laid awake in bed praying for clarity. You are 2 days away from turning 32. As you write this, the sun heats the left elbow that is attached to your body, drawing attention to past mistakes that have been forgiven. The string of red cardinals from North Carolina,…read more
Fluency Found
As I rub the smokey colors from my eyes,
Watch the minutes, so mellifluous.
Shards of penitence glint in the rain,
The petrichor almost masking the sting of sibilance in your string of words.
Too small, too small to remember the incendiary strife.
Too old to abandon the blaze.
White mist morning contrasting with the fiery…read more
This is such a beautiful poem. There is a sense of letting yourself free in this poem and I am all here for it. Thank for sharing and thank you for being a part of The Unsealed.
What’s so beautiful of a young artistic mind. It is he or she that fills the world with laughter. Now discard that who is she? Lima where are you who are you. A chef a cook a home or a forest. Yet I don’t want to be I’m crazy I’m insane people look at me quite ill yet they are ill and cause depression for they have not seen happiness the way god…read more
You will have alot of names, not just in this lifetime but in other lifetimes as well. They took away your name but they can never take away who you truly are. Our names are powerful and important but so is your true Soul. The life path evolves and the trauma deeply impacted you but your one true Soul and dazzling light still shines. Your very…read more
One day you’ll think about this letter while you sip champagne with all of your new fancy friends. You’ll talk about how our love of pretend turned into your love of stories and how the writing came easy to us. You’ll cite Hemmingway as your favorite author, but I know it’s truly Maas.
What you won’t talk about is all of…read more
Are we happy?
We chose ourselves.
We finally understood that our greatest weapon is us. And the most lethal artillery we could carry was, and is compassion. Perhaps we could talk tangible numbers but we realized far too long ago that subjective materialism brought us no joy. We made people remember they’re intrinsic worth. We reminded folks of t…read more
As I noticed March coming to an end, which makes me aware that women’s month awareness closing it curtains for next year. It makes me wonder why does it have to be a month to honor women for what we’ve been through? Why can’t it just be everyday, just acknowledging our accomplishments and hardships. Of course, it can be too much…read more
Dear future self
We got out of a situation that almost killed us
Moved to a state that took us away from her
Got into therapy and hoped our pain would go away
Some days are better than others
Some days we’re perfectly fine
Others we’re crying wishing that she’d change
Dear future self
Can you tell me if it ever gets better?
I’m breathing
But it…read more
I had fallen into a career I truly loved, selling floor care, cleaning products, and equipment. It came on the heels of me losing a job with United States Steel, Duquesne Works, in Pittsburgh. The mill closed, and I thought that was it for me, but my mother taught me to have a good work ethic, so out hunting work, I went. I found two jobs being a…read more
I love your story Larry. It’s a story of taking a chance on yourself, believing in yourself and going for it – no matter what anyone thinks. So amazing and so inspiring. Thank you for sharing and thank you for being a part of our family. <3 Lauren