Standing on a bar stool disconnecting the Christmas lights fastened to my ceiling, I realized that the 45-foot winding cord housing 200-some encapsulated pods of golden light was one of the few things I owned that I really would have a hard time parting with. A suitcase and a half held piles of folded clothing, most of which I barely even wore; the heavy duffel with all my shoes was literally just that—additional weight I now had to carry onboard with me. The multitude of things I was taking home felt so foreign to me. Why did I need so much of it all?

I walked outside, took off my flip flops, lay down on a bench, and began to read. The first official line of chapter 1 wrote, "For those who are lost, there will always be cities that feel like home." Home. It was the most bizarre sentence I could have come across; while not something I normally discussed, it was a thought that always probed some part deep in my mind. Home. Where was my home? Where was anyone's home?

Life is an enigma. If it weren’t, we’d have all the answers to everything; we’d know what moves to make and when to make them because things would be predictable… Does that really sound anything like life to you? Life throws more curveballs our way than baseball players do in their careers. Sure, that makes things harder, messier, and more complicated for us, but it also keeps us on our toes, excited.

Friend is a word that gets thrown around a lot. We have grown accustomed to calling mere acquaintances our friends, using the word as an invisible connector to persons we deem important or useful in one way or another. We use it after accepting a “friend request”; sometimes we use the word after having just met someone when in reality a friendship takes time to develop. Where is the value of those six letters? People say the word but don’t honor its underlying meaning. What’s worse is that the people you consider your best friends can undervalue that meaning too—and that hurts most.

I recently had a moment of clarity that brought about both a sense of relief and a frightening realization... The relief I felt came from figuring out what it is I don't want to do in life... But the one thing I am fearful of is not living up to and superseding my potential.

The opening four notes of Michicant play on the speakers of the coffee shop I’m sitting in. I listen for the next nine soft beats to confirm what my ears think they’re hearing because up until this point, I never heard Bon Iver outside the confines of my bedrooms. Confirmed. It’s still gloomy and rainy out as the sun hopelessly tries to rise and I can’t help but reminisce about my seemingly short time in London. The song reminds me of a person (don’t they all) and with it, thoughts, emotions, and memories flood my mind.