Lately, I feel like the eccentric and artsy kid who's been travelling the world with my equally eccentric and, perhaps, overly academic parents, and we've all decided to move into some small town where everybody knows and gets each other. Except us. We're the lovely things that don't look lovely anymore to anyone, except us. Sigh. It's the weirdest feeling.
I am the kid sister to a sort of celebrity-my big sister. I call her Double U. Double U is fabulous, beautiful, glamorous and, basically, always-adored. Double U has that rare ability to look perfectly pulled together in a sophisticated, charming way, at all times. She could be stuck in the middle of a snowstorm in Montana, get stranded in a swamp in Mississippi and the woman would still stand out the way knocks out do: she'd be stunning and reigning over her crowd. So, naturally, she's always been pretty popular and she's got an entourage that she currently relies on to follow her around on her latest and greatest new ventures. I think she's incredible, but lately, I realize that she and I are just different in some ways. And, while I've spent a lot of my formative years idolizing her and trying to be like her, I finally kind of get it: I'm something else entirely. And I want to learn and express that, in my own way.
When we moved here, to Chesapeake, VA, I was excited. I read up on all the outdoor activities and loved it: the botanical gardens, the ocean, the rivers, the mountains, the forest, the great swamps, the up and coming restaurants, all the universities and emerging artists, the budding music scene, etc. I thought, "They need someone like me there. I'm just what they've been missing. I love all this percolating, bubbling up possibility!" Since moving here, settling down and reaching out, I gotta tell you-I'm feeling a little misunderstood and a little left out.
So, I'm searching for the right way to express myself. I'm working on it, every day. I'm putting everything I am and all of my inspired energy into my cause. I want to be known and appreciated for the unique qualities I posess, and I want to help others to suss out and flush out their own aesthetic value, their own sassy, saucy ways. I want to remain the fun, whimsical person I know myself to be, and I want to cultivate a culture that can support me, know me, grow me, and let me provide the same things, in return.
Come over and meet me. Come on and get to living. This is life. I am aloft.
