reminder that many abuse victims get triggered by anger, whether it’s directed at them or not. please be mindful of your actions

“It wasn’t a shotgun wedding.  He proposed before Dad got diagnosed.  We’d already scheduled the ceremony.  We’d rented a large room at the museum.  And Dad promised me that he’d make it.  He said he’d still be healthy enough.  But as the date got closer, he got sicker.  And we didn’t want to risk it.  So we changed our plans.  We moved up the date.  We held a tiny ceremony at the registry office.  Maybe twenty people came.  Dad stayed in bed until it was time to go.  But he made it the entire day.  He drove me to the wedding in the same car that he’d driven my mum, a green MG Midget.  He walked me down the aisle.  He gave a speech at the reception.  There was no focus on being ill.  Or why we moved the wedding.  It was just a nice speech.  I have a film of it, but I haven’t watched it yet.  I think it might be too sad.  Dad passed away five months later.  My husband and I had a vow renewal recently.  It was exactly one year from the planned date of our original wedding.  We held it at the same museum.  It was the original guest list.  There was a lot of soul searching involved.  We weren’t sure if it was the right thing to do.  We weren’t sure if people would understand, especially because it happened to fall on my dad’s birthday.  But it turned out lovely.  Really lovely.  There was so much Dad in the room, his photos were everywhere.  But this day was about us.  About our relationship.  About showing the world how much we loved each other.  About our future.  And about moving forward.” (London, England)

Coucher de soleil, près du Croisic (n.d.). Ferdinand du Puigaudeau 1864-1930. Oil on canvas

“On this warm July afternoon you are the one my thoughts wander to.”

—

Anne Sexton, from a letter to Brian Sweeney featured in A Self-Portrait in Letters

im tired i wanna go home to you

“I want to sleep with you, fall asleep and sleep.”

— Marina Tsvetaeva, from a letter to Rainer Maria Rilke featured in Letters: Summer 1926

Yevgeny Yevtushenko, tr. by Albert C. Todd, from “Waiting,” wr. c. 1963

Everlasting Arms (Empty Arena) » Vampire Weekend

“I want to wander in my own way; I want to get lost in my own way.”

— St. Augustine, from a letter to Donatus Magnus written c. 416 a.d.

“We’ve been boyfriend and girlfriend for just over two months.  We met at camp.  We didn’t talk to each other much at camp.  But then we decided to talk more after camp.  I go to boarding school, so this is the first time we’ve seen each other for five weeks.  But we talk a lot on the phone.  And we’ll help each other if we’re having a rough day.  This week I had an AP US History Exam.  I studied all the wrong stuff.  I thought there’d be a lot more questions on the War of 1812.  But instead there were a ton of questions about The American Revolution.  So I was pretty depressed. But she texted me and said: ‘You tried your best.  It’s all you can do.’  Then we talked about it all night until I went to bed.  And it just felt really nice to have somebody to make you feel better.”

“i miss you, still no longer in a deep, aching way, but rather in the dull hum of my car radio i hope you smiled today and while you’re getting swept up in the excitement and mystery and passion of this confusing, intriguing, heartbreaking, beautiful life, i hope you never forget what is most important i hope you remember that it’s not about finding someone to complete and write sappy poems about, it’s not about listening to soft music on repeat with your eyes closed, wishing you were somewhere else or someone else, and it’s not about doing well on exams, or traveling the world, or always being artificial sunshine instead of being real because it’s okay to have sad days, and a number in the corner of a page can’t give you lasting satisfaction, and you can’t be everyone’s prince charming, and while music stirs up something so beautiful inside of us, you can’t hide in your melancholy world of D minor, forever every night i pray that you’re not lost, that you’re somehow finding your way, and although i can’t speak these words to you directly, i hope you know i’ll always care.”

— Madisen Kuhn, I Wrote This For You (via praises)

“The Lawless Energy of Teen Girls” reflects on Justine Kurland’s photo series “Girl Pictures,” shot between 1997 and 2002.