On the day I found out my dad had a year to live, I was standing at work, typing away stupidly about something I can’t remember now. And in an instant, I was catapulted into a terrible grief I knew nothing about. Like a dark room I’d never entered, feeling my way around. Gemma called my boss, my colleagues, and my best friends. Ordering one to give me time off, to get coffee, and to buy moving boxes. In the apartment, I couldn’t even remember my own name. Gemma found my passport, called my sister and arranged a pick up, and booked my flight for the next morning. Early but not too early, because she said I needed sleep. How do I even begin to pack right now? Gemma told everyone what to do. She put on my favourite songs, Taylor Swift, whom she didn’t particularly care for, and made the executive decision to toss my near-empty shampoo bottles. We walked through a handful of outfits I’d need - certainly comfy ones - as Gemma proposed. And when I’d come back to collect my t...
The one where Haleigh meets Haleigh. Looking back on my nineteen post, I see a sprout of the Haleigh I spent this year becoming. And now I’m here, and I can’t wait to tell you all about it. Life in a year. fall: heartbreaker Twenty was the first year in a long time I spent all by myself. I believe it was in this alone time that I was able and open to meet new people. And did I ever meet new people. I must have fallen in love like forty times a day. With people, and life, and friends, and my journey. It’s crazy how much love I felt this time around. This fall was scary because I was falling out of love at the same time I was falling in. This was my mistake. I broke a heart or two or three. But if I’m being honest, one of those was my own, too. I thought I was ready to share myself with someone else and I wasn’t. And I felt like a liar. So I cut it all off. Pulled all the strings back and snipped. I needed to fill my bucket before I could share any more. That’s not to say I didn’t accide...