Date A Girl Who Reads

Recently, there has been a major influx of reasons why you should "date a girl who..." - with the most popular being "Date A Girl Who Reads."

I've seen the Youtube video, read the Elite Daily article, and have been in love with the original blog post for months. My only question is... Since when is intellect considered a prize quality in the eyes of society? Did everyone finally open their eyes? We've been here all along, y'all. Girls have been reading, and wearing glasses, and enjoying worlds you could never begin to imagine for centuries - it's about time we finally get the credit we're due. 

Everyone else has their reasons why you should date a girl who reads, and I have mine.
A girl who reads can change your life, you just have to be willing to let her. 

A girl who reads will look for the best in everyone, especially in you. She will know that there is always a hidden side, a different perspective that you may not see from the pages of a book, but that you must read between the lines to find. She has fallen in love with "bad guys" and villains, and she knows that the hardest to love are the ones who need love the most. 

A girl who reads will challenge you. She more than likely has a feisty side and a vernacular to match. Her vocabulary is rich and fulfilled, and she is always looking for a new place to use her favorite words. The fact that "selfie" was voted the Word of the Year in 2013 disgusts her, because of the multitude of words slipping away from our language each and every day. She will argue with you, and you will be thrown for a loop because you will never know what is going to come out of her mouth next. 

A girl who reads is the strongest person you could ever imagine meeting. She has had her heart broken, and probably more times than you can begin to imagine. She has a heart that has been torn to pieces by the heartbreak, death, and misfortune of her favorite characters. She has been ridiculed and taunted for her love of the classics, for burying herself in Chaucer and Faulkner and Tolstoy. She has gone through hell beside Odysseus, fought in Dumbledore's Army, and been to the depths of Dante's Inferno - and lived to tell the tale. 

A girl who reads will love you with a passion you can never begin to describe. She has thrown books across the room in anger, and ran after them to be sure she did not ruin the binding. She has devoured stories spanning hundreds of pages in a matter of hours.  She has fallen in love with Mr. Darcy, learned magic with Hermione, and lived vicariously through Jay Gatsby. She has cried and yelled and held grudges at fictional characters whose names you would never even recognize. She still has copies of her favorite childhood stories, the words she teethed on, and anxiously awaits the day she can share them with children of her own. 

A girl who reads can show you worlds beyond your wildest imagination. She can take you to Aslan's Narnia, to Anna Karenina's Russia, to Thoreau's Walden Pond. She has dogeared pages and highlighted quotes that remind her of who she is, and where she belongs, for the times that the real world seems like a distant mystery. 

A girl who reads is a girl worth loving, a girl worth waiting for. A girl who reads is worth losing for a few hours, because of what she will have to offer when you get her back. A girl who reads has an asset beyond the physical, she has a lifelong appeal to offer. A girl who reads is full of confidence, courage, sincerity, and self respect. 

A girl who reads deserves someone who can bewitch her, body and soul. She deserves a man who is willing to share the worlds she explores with her, someone who will hold her when she cries over "To Kill A Mockingbird," who will let her yell and scream at Snape. A girl who reads needs someone to love her who realizes that he will never be her whole world, because she is in love with so many different worlds. She needs, and deserves, someone who understands this - and loves her all the more for it. 

"Why don't you tell me that 'If the girl had been worth having, she'd have waited for you?' No, sir, the girl really worth having won't wait for anybody."

- F. Scott Fitzgerald

If I Could Write A Letter To Me

I'm a huge country music fan, and if you know me even the slightest, the fact that I even had to say that probably made you shake your head and laugh a little under your breath. I'm the girl who knows every word to almost any country song you throw my way - from Hank Williams to Eric Church, Patsy Cline to Miranda Lambert. There's one song that, while I used to get annoyed as hell when it first came out, resonates a little closer to home now - "Letter To Me" by Brad Paisley. Cliché as they come, I know. But when you think about it, there's a few songs kind of along the same lines.. "The House That Built Me" by my idol Miranda Lambert, "Young" by Kenny Chesney, the list goes on. We all seem to be able to agree on one thing, if nothing else - we all wish we knew then what we knew now (except maybe Garth Brooks looking back on "The Dance").

I've been doing a lot of self-reflecting recently, and realized that there is a song that maybe fits my life more than I ever realized.. You can find it here if you're interested. Which you should, because it is a damn good song. Anyway, it has always been so hard for me to accept that hindsight is 20/20 because I am such a perfectionist, and I hate to be wrong. Which is why "Letter To Me" hits so close to home - if I only knew then what I know now. It got me thinking... I'm only 19 now, so it sounds like 17 was just yesterday. But looking back across the years, I realize I've done more growing in the past two short years than I did in most of my first 17. There are so many things I would tell myself at seventeen, and I sat down to put them into words.


Dear Dallas, 

Seventeen. Senior year. I know right now you feel like you're on top of the world, but at the same time you feel like you're lost with no direction or idea how your life is going to end up. And do you want to know something? That's okay. If I've learned one thing in these past two years, it's that that feeling doesn't exactly go away. It changes, it transforms, it will ebb and it will grow, but it never truly goes away. Live for that feeling. Live for the moments that you can truly let go and just enjoy every second. 

You're a perfectionist. We both know that. But if I can give you one piece of advice, it would be to accept that you can't control every situation - but you can control how you react and how you let it affect you. I recently received one of the greatest compliments I think I ever have; when I was in your shoes it was something I never would have expected to be told, or deserved for that matter. A lady at the courthouse was yelling at me, and after the fact, one of her coworkers praised me and told me that I "stay so sweet under pressure." Anyone who knows you would die of laughter at the thought of someone telling me that, but I swear it's true. I've been working so hard to control my emotions, and a lot of it comes from things I experienced at your age. 

High school hasn't been easy for you. Yeah, I know, it's not easy for anyone and maybe I'm a bit biased, but it really hasn't been a walk in the park for you. You've put up with catty insecure girls, narcissistic boys, and devilish teachers. You've had your heart broken, your dreams crushed, and even some days felt like there was no one in the world who cared. But more than that, you've learned how to put the pieces back together, put a smile on your face, and keep pushing through. That perseverance will take you so far in life, even though I know you're tired of hearing that right now. Just trust me on this one, little darling. Your strength and courage will inspire people that you never imagined, and just knowing that will one day make it worth every second. 

All those trials and tribulations have made you really eager to leave home. Actually... I'm not sure eager is the right word, since you basically had a countdown to college move-in beginning the first day of senior year. You feel like you'll never miss high school, never miss home, never miss a single person you went to high school with. But, some day you will realize that you were luckier than you ever realized. For every person who made your life a living hell, there was one waiting to pick you up when you fell. You will learn to love every single moment of growing up in Small Town, USA, and all the lessons that it taught you that you will carry with you (maybe even share with those citified folk). You'll miss moments of high school. You'll miss bus rides, late night laughs and McDonald's runs, and your senior prom most of all. Senior prom will be one of the best nights of your life, I still haven't had a night to quite make me feel so alive. But have no fear, those people won't let you burn the bridges, and they'll meet you in the middle. Keep them around, you need them more than you know. 

There are some other amazing people in your life that you need to keep around. But, these people are a little bit harder, because they can't physically be with you anymore. Please just promise me that you will never forget that they are with you, every single step of the road. Every peak, every valley, they're right there with you. Hold onto their memories. Hold onto the lessons they taught you. Hold onto the sunshine that they brought into your life, and never let it go. 

People are going to try and stomp on your dreams. Laugh in their faces. No, seriously, laugh in their faces and tell them "watch me." Because you have so much potential and the chance to do amazing things. Don't let them put a doubt in your mind, let it fuel you to work that much harder. There is no satisfaction like proving someone wrong about what you can do. 

Things are going to change soon, as they always do. Embrace these changes, and let them shape you. But please don't lose sight of who you are, and if you do? Be brave enough to walk through the darkness to find that light and sparkle again. You'll never be walking alone. Plus, you're one of the strongest people I have ever met, you're a real badass. Don't be afraid to laugh too loudly, or love too quickly. Those words don't even make any sense, because there is no such thing. 

As much as I wish you knew all of these things, I know the importance of you learning it on your own time. You'll learn these lessons well, and you'll make me proud. I have all the faith in the world in you. I'll be seeing you soon (aka the blink of an eye), but until then..

xoxo

I Am Old Glory

I was blessed to grow up in a school where Veteran's Day was one of the most solemn days of the year. We were excused from classes for a mandatory assembly, that many people considered a free pass. A few hours to goof off, hang out with our friends, and be free from schoolwork for awhile. While some continued to hold that mindset when "Taps" was played and the flags were presented, many were drawn in by the pomp and circumstance, and were reminded of just what this day is all about - why we were gathered together, with our teachers, classmates, and revered members of both our Armed Forces and our community. One of my favorite parts of our ceremony was the candle lighting, where a candle was lit for each branch of this nation's military. I was lucky enough to be a part of the candle lighting for three years, representing the United States Air Force, Marines, and Army, respectively. 

While the assembly did not take long to bring me to tears, it took others a little longer. The one thing that could usually be counted on to silence the room and make us all shed a few tears was the reading of a poem. A poem that, whether you have known a veteran or not, you could relate to on a very personal level. A poem that reminds us of the answer to the question we sometimes find ourselves asking, "Do these soldiers even know what they're fighting for?" 

The answer is yes. Yes, they do. 
They are fighting for me, for you, and for the namesake of this poem - Old Glory. 



"I Am Old Glory"

I am the flag of the United States of America.
My name is "Old Glory".
I fly atop the world's tallest buildings.
I stand watch in America's halls of justice.
I fly majestically over institutions of learning.
I stand guard with power in the world.
Look up and see me.

I stand for peace, honor, truth and justice.
I stand for freedom.
I am confident.
I am arrogant.
I am proud.

When I am flown with my fellow banners,
My head is a little higher,
My colors a little truer.

I bow to no one!
I am recognized all over the world.
I am worshipped -- I am saluted.
I am loved -- I am revered.
I am respected -- and I am feared.

I have fought in every battle of every war
for more then 200 years.
I was flown at Valley Forge, Gettysburg,
Shiloh and Appomattox.
I was there at San Juan Hill,
the trenches of France,
in the Argonne Forest, Anzio, Rome
and the beaches of Normandy, Guam,
Okinawa, Korea, and Vietnam.
I was there. I led my troops.
I was dirty, battle-weary and tired,
but my soldiers cheered me
And I was proud.

I have been burned, torn and trampled
on the streets of countries I have helped set free.
It does not hurt, for I am invincible.

I have been soiled upon, burned, torn
and trampled on the streets of my country.
And when it's by those whom I've served in battle -- it hurts.
But I shall overcome -- for I am strong.

I have slipped the bonds of Earth
and stood watch over the uncharted frontiers of space
from my vantage point on the moon.
I have borne silent witness
to all of America's finest hours.
But my finest hours are yet to come.

When I am torn into strips
and used as bandages
for my wounded comrades on the battlefield,
When I am flown at half-mast to honor my soldier,
Or when I lie in the trembling arms
of a grieving parent at the grave of their fallen son or daughter,
I am proud.

My name is "Old Glory," long may I wave. 



Today we remember, we thank, we pray, and we love. 
God bless.