remembering february two thousand twelve.

i need to remember february two thousand twelve as a month when my wedding dress & the most beautiful valentine's day flowers ever - orange & white roses - sat in the same room together, reminding me about my future.

february two thousand twelve saw two nights spent in the car, driving toward nights out, singing fun. & young the giant, with my favorite shreveport people. my best friends.

i need to remember february fourteenth, two thousand twelve, as a day of trials, of a wedding dress purchase, and of a frenzied rush to the wrong theater. of an hour of therapy in a crowded lobby. walking into the vow feeling that yoga feeling - the feeling you either get after, well - yoga... or a heart-to-heart with a dear friend. you walk a little taller. you breathe a little deeper. you feel a little more yourself.

february two thousand twelve also saw me leave my job of two-and-a-half years - and the friends i had made & kept in those years - in preparation for a move to the east coast.

february was the month in two thousand twelve that saw the bittersweet move out of my parents' house.

february two thousand twelve was the month that happened eight months before our wedding.

the second month of two thousand twelve was the month i went to visit my sophomore-year-sister at millsaps. and we walked around campus, taking the most random pictures you can imagine. and i left knowing that it was one of those days i'd always remember - a little snapshot in my memory, reminding me of who we were at twenty-five & nineteen. 

and i'll never forget the long-overdue conversation i had during the car ride home. or the drive around ruston, with a sugar free red bull & a huge honey bun. getting lost in the cemetery. found on alabama.

i'll never forget that february two thousand twelve was the month i promised myself to cherish the tiniest moments of life. because you really don't get to re-live them. people say you only live once too often - it has begun to lose its meaning, which, in my opinion, is a tragedy. this little truth - more than any other - should be held in highest esteem.

why wouldn't we want to believe something that will make our lives inordinately more special?

as we plunge ahead at warp speed, with the present so soon becoming the past - the future so soon becoming the present - let us remember that this only happens once. really.

photos: iphone