When Texas froze over, with power failures across the state, my mother boiled water—not just for herself, but for two companions: a pair of Rufous Hummingbirds.

The most expensive credit card purchase I’ve ever made was $725 to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and it was a charge that would change the course of my life.

“It’s easier to love yourself when there is less of you to love.”

You don’t take up as much room. You feel less self-conscious about the things you eat around other people, the clothes you wear, the volume of your voice and brazenness of your attitude. As if just by being bigger, just being, you offend people. And it is near impossible to shed that feeling deep down without shedding the weight that made it so. But even years ago, when I weighed far less, I constantly felt ugly and inadequate. I wish now I could reach back and shake myself, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you can’t force self-love.

“Hey Heather, can I look at your feet?”

I blink, wondering if I just heard that sentence right. One of our creative directors Phil stares at me, expectantly.

“It’s for the shoot, the morgue scene.”

I nod, and remove my socks. 45 minutes later, I’m on top of a stainless steel work table with a sheet over my face and my bare feet being powdered blue to look lifeless. This is just another day of work at a small agency.

Man, am I getting too old for this?

The answer is no, but damn, this festival grew since last time I was in its clutches, three years ago. 

I had two realizations: 1) if I could make a life for myself here, I could technically do the same anywhere, and 2) being here a while longer to build my resume and adult life wouldn’t be so bad after all... 

She'd taken me across the country twice. We'd seen five national parks. She'd carried two of my best friends, all of my worldly possessions, a few memories of steamy make outs, and one speeding ticket, for going 91 mph on an 80 mph highway in the middle of Idaho...

By being exempt from voting, I was removing myself from the current crisis of our country, washing my hands of it...

Women are rising, prominent consumers, and creating advertising that alienates and demeans women is detrimental to a brand's livelihood...

So much so far has been been me pretending like I know what I'm doing... 

It's 6:30 pm, I'm 90 minutes from my destination and I smell like sun screen and stale French fries...

Yesterday, I packed the next three months of my life into the back of a 1999 Dodge Stratus...

Across this canyon among a kingdom of pines is a barren, twisted and white-washed tree that peeps from behind the scenery. In the house, there is a telescope set to that exact tree in the wilderness. Sam told us he'd wanted to visit that tree ever since he could remember...

It's supposed to storm tonight...

Four years prior, as a senior in high school, I'd stumbled across his poetry and it helped pull me through the emotional turmoil of finding oneself and embarking on new adventures post adolescence...

The last time I stayed up all night was when we drove through the night to the Gorge to pitch our tent during sunrise. The time before that was our first date... 

But here was this person who I'd completely forgot about who just gave birth to a tiny 7 lb human being within the past hour and was smiling about it... 

Google begins keeping running a digital archive of our name whether we like it or not, and odds are that by some point, we won't be the only ones looking up our names...