Elisabeth's Pen

Fighting the battle of memories these days, you know, when it's time to let go of the thoughts that were once comforting because they remind you of a time, a place, or a person you can no longer hold on to.

Somehow, in the midst of letting go, my hands have been filled with something else: hope. Have you ever been able to taste the future, like a really awesome piece of wedding cake? Every once in a while, when fear is gone and I dare to dream, I can taste little pieces of goodness not yet born, the essence of hope, the essence of faith, like frosting on the wind.

Sometimes hope shows up in our dreams, little messages that keep us going when the climb to the mountain's top  becomes strenuous. That's when I see it. Have you ever seen happiness, not just the effects of it, but the actual thing itself?

 I am in my second year at the University of North Texas in Denton. My first semester I drove a 45 minute commute both ways, it was all highway. I had never felt so alone. But every morning, rising up over the hills, above the tree line, was a promise of happiness. Right as I would come up over the hill as I pulled into Denton, there it would be, shining right in my eyes telling me I wasn't alone.

The memories, so bittersweet, call my name every night right around this time. That's when I have to close my eyes and think about the sun rising on the wings of promise driving that stretch of Highway 35.