Everyone thinks I named my cat Mango because of his orange eyes, but that's not the case. I named him Mango because the sounds of his purrs and his wheezes and his meows are all various shades of yellow-orange.

and as streams of light fan out behind the darkened sun like the wings of a butterfly, i realize that i never saw true beauty until now.

The sidelines may be safer but life is played on the field

How can you, of all people, say everything will be alright?" He has a point. I consider my answer. "Well, it's better than saying 'Keep on crying, I'm sure things will just get worse,' right?

You never know, life is short but it’s wide

When I was your age I knew nothing about the world or my place in it. I figured I'd be someone's wife, then someone's mother. It never occurred to me to be someone myself.

Just as I suspected, my room does look different, post-eclipse. It looks smalled, like it can't contain me anymore. After all, I've got a whole new world to see.