the things we do not do
For my 21st birthday, I visited a small oceanside town a couple hours away from Rio de Janeiro. Walking alone back from the beach that night, the streets were dark and the sky was full of stars and I felt safe there.
I felt safe there. Woah. I didn't even know until that moment, that since arriving in Rio 4 months prior, I'd felt constantly unsafe.
It was the lack of danger that alerted me to the fact that it had existed all along.
On a related note, one of my besties from high school came over for dinner tonight.
Here's what I did not do:
- put on makeup
- do a deep clean of my house
- change into cute clothes
- tell her all the "cool" stuff I've been making or doing lately
- try to present myself as anyone other than me.
This girl loved me back when I had nothing except my soul and my words.
And I still have both of those! I still have me! And when I'm with her, there's nothing else I need to provide. Nothing I have to prove. No extra layers I have to smother on top of myself to be 'acceptable enough'.
It reminded me of that evening in that small town outside of Rio.