bread and roses

at this time last year, I had just returned from England. I was soon off to Bryn Mawr for my first college reunion weekend. Then back in StL, refreshed, I started this blog in hopes of continuing to reconnect with my writing, my self, and all the emotions that the journey back to my alma mater had rekindled.

hard to believe everything that has followed from that point.

so now what?
I am a year older (though I feel infinitely wiser and more grounded).
I am a year closer to being a PhD (continuing down that academic path, away from mediocrity, towards something).
I am *almost* a year into being single again (meeting and getting to know new people, realizing how much friendship truly matters).

and still, here I am at the start of another summer... the beginning of a season where I dwell in the smell of sunscreen and citronella. outside till all hours, desperate not to spend every waking moment in the lab. on my bike. on my deck. pulling weeds. having drinks and good conversation. dancing. hiking. looking at stars...

I think about Bryn Mawr. about the preparation and the journey. about that fact that life is always a challenge, is always harder than you want it to be. I think about sitting on Denbigh green one August night as a freshman with hot candle wax dripping down my fingers... "Bread and Roses" echoing back into the night, behind Taylor Hall...

Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;
Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses.