By Rachel Njenga
Tonight I felt like writing. (I miss that) Sometimes when I look in the mirror it’s like a stranger looking back at me. Sometimes I miss the girl I used to be, even while loving the woman I am becoming. I miss those carefree nights, and embrace being home in bed by 10. I miss those spontaneous trips and I love a well-planned out vacation. I miss alone time and sometimes I find silence deafening. I miss blaring my favorite songs and sometimes I enjoy a quiet ride. I have traded tequila shots to an occasional frozen margarita or a single beer. I miss those all nighters with friends and now I enjoy dinner and the occasional cookout. Sometimes I search for her, that girl that still seeps out amongst my closest friends, where I feel safe, where I can be free and completely me. That girl that is unapologetic for her uncontrollable laughing and zest for life. That girl that never sees a stranger, and will stop traffic to save that one animal life. I miss her, I miss her laugh, her smile, her fun personality. I see this woman now that is balancing the old and the new, the past, the present, and the yet to come. I miss her dreams and passion as she just merely exists some days. There is an infinite line and there is balance, the old and the new. I don’t want to ever lose that young girl spirit and somehow to blend her with this woman I am still seeing as a stranger in the mirror. I don’t want to ever lose the girl that built me, the girl that never stopped trying, the girl that chose her path, the girl that never gave up no matter how hard it got. I don’t want to lose that girl that transformed into this woman in the mirror. She sustained me and she is my foundation. She is my past, my present, and will be carried into my yet to come. I miss her, but she is always with me, and always will be. Life is short, and everyday choose to never forget who you are, where you came from, and where you are going. We transform with age, circumstances, time, and the people we are surrounded by or the strangers that cross our paths. In this balance never forget that you only have one you. Remember your youth as you age, remember your age as you determine your course of actions, and remember both as you live. Balance is a blend of the past, present, and yet to come. Always remember there is only one you. Cherish her, love her, build her up so high that no one can break her down. Take her with you in all stages, because she is the foundation for which this stranger in the mirror was built.
I Am... Magazine 