Author: Maddie

If you never experience pain or sadness, then you aren’t really living your life right.

You will always have ups and downs, not really sure so much negativity can come at one down in your life, but it is what makes us stronger. 

We can learn a lot about how to take life’s weakest moments by the reins in the movie “How To Be Single”… whether or not you are actually single or not, this movie proves that you are who you need to focus on, not a guy, a job, a best friend, just simply… you. 

The pain from a bad moment creates a beautiful life. 

I wish that I had someone tell me that everything would be okay, but at the same time, it doesn’t matter who tells you that everything will be okay because you have to know that you will make it out alive. 

Before you let yourself completely shatter to the floor, remember this:

You are beautiful in every way, even if you’re hurting because of some stupid guy who broke your heart, that doesn’t mean it was because you weren’t good enough, it’s because he isn’t good enough for you.

Friends are everywhere, all you have to do is ask, you can find them in any way possible. 

Join Facebook groups that have to do with what you enjoy, follow people on Instagram that also love to hike, or knit, or scuba dive, or whatever it is that you love, find others who love that too. 

Your opinion about yourself matters more than anyone on the planet. If you don’t have faith in your abilities, then you can’t expect anyone else too. You are your own biggest fan and biggest support. No one else can tell you what you aren’t good at. 

Your life is your life, and even when shit really does hit the fan and you feel like you are covered in what feels like the end of your hope, remember that there are always better people out there, a beautiful world to explore, and wonderful moments to come. 

We weren’t made to enjoy the same company forever anyways; it’s always a good time to find yourself, make new friends, and enjoy all of the life’s moments.

Go do something new to get your mind off of the shit storm that you have entered, and find yourself while you’re there. 

A bad moment in our life is the best way to remember who we are, and learn something along the way. 

Never be afraid about the hard moments, those are the moments that create a beautiful life and a strong person who can wake up one day and say “I overcame my living nightmare”.

“Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same,” Emily Bronte 

Everything changes when you know everything about someone. The ins and outs – literally, not just figuratively. It’s so easy when the love is just beginning. Nothing feels like it will ever change, you miss them as soon as they leave, and you don’t even call each other by your real names because you refer to them by cutesy nicknames only. 

But no one talks about what happens when the honeymoon phase dies out, and what you’re left with. Things do change more than expected, but in a way that is even greater than the honeymoon itself. 

You are my best friend now. Of course, back when we first fell in love years ago, we referred to each other as such. We didn't even know the meaning of the words yet. 

Now, though, you’re the first person I call when something happens. I got a job interview, I only want to call you. I feel sick, you’re the one who makes me feel better. Feeling like a spontaneous road trip? You are my passenger.

It’s scary when you can feel yourselves falling out of the honeymoon phase but what's even better is finding out what's really on the other side of that. Our honeymoon has ended, but our love never will. 

Our terms of endearment have gone from cutesy baby names to “hey butthole pass the remote” and “no you poophead, get it yourself” followed by a sexy wink and all of a sudden we are on top of both each other and the remote. 

Love changes when you get past the newness of the honeymoon period. It never dies, it just gets better. You know that since the love has calmed down, it’s for real. Love is a lot of things. It's explosive and bright and energetic, but it's also mostly calm, silent and reassuring.

They love who you really are, not what you give them. It’s a beautiful thing, coming out of the honeymoon stage where love letters are as common as breathing and dates were a weekly event. 

Once you realize you don’t need to put in any extra effort to impress someone, the rest becomes easy. 

Like my boyfriend always says, “honey, the honeymoon phase is fake, what we have after years of love, is the realest it gets.”

“Beauty begins the moment you decide to be yourself," Coco Chanel

Chaos is the only see when I look out my window anymore. People are upset, they feel hatred towards others, towards the nation, we are not acting as one anymore. Race is beginning to be segregated again, females are feeling like they are not as able as men, and our sense of a normal conversation results in insulting one another rather than lifting them up.

Do we even know how to feel beautiful anymore? It seems like we aren’t reminded by our beauty. We look in the mirror and see hate. Exactly what that stranger on the street pointed out. We, instead hear “go back to your home country!” “You’re just a girl…” and “whatever you say, gay boy,” and our new self talk becomes the insults off the street.

The world is cruel, and we are becoming cruel to ourselves as well. I hear, see, and witness people everyday expressing how they are not good enough for something or their body would never pull off an outfit that they wanted to wear. 

It’s sad. It’s sad that now the normal thing to do is put someone down because you do not like one thing about them-like it even matters to you. They are male and wearing pink? That affects you how? She is a woman competing for the same job title? You should be scared for your own sake in getting the job with an equivalent IQ level as you. 

We are so quick to hate that we forget to find the beauty in ourselves, in other people, and in the world. For my final project for my photography class, I am attempting to reverse this view on life. I am titling it, “The I Am Beautiful Project”. We are all beautiful; skin color, religious preferences, sexual orientation,  or anything else that we as humans get discriminated against. 

If we started to believe in one another, saw the beauty in them, and in ourselves we would see just how wonderful life and people can really be. 

I am beautiful because I can see the beauty in the world, what makes you beautiful? #IAmBeautifulProject 

“I vote in every general election, but I’m not a party member or an ideologue. I’ve never told anyone who I’ve voted for,” Brian Lamb

Lets face it, last night was one of the most stressful nights of this country’s life. Whether you voted left or right, you were still on edge the entire night awaiting the final result of who would be running our country the next 4 years. We really don’t have the best options at hand and the world as we know it is falling apart. 

The world may be falling apart, the elections may have been sh*t this year, and we might have just elected a man that half the country thinks is a rapist, but I am only betting on one thing; myself. I put the votes out on me, because in a world this chaotic, scandalous, and evil the only person who can make my own life better is myself. 

As electing myself to take this major responsibility of governing a life in a generation ruled by social media, I vow to treat others with respect (unlike our electees), keep my word to myself and to people in my life, and to kill the evil with kindness.

Our most powerful weapon we have is the ability to make the world better without instilling fear in the minds of those around us. I elect myself, I vote for myself, and I will choose myself day after day during this time of the election year. 

The only person we can truly count on is ourselves, so my energy will go into making myself the best human I can be that means I can treat the rest of America with the same respect I give myself. 

We are a nation falling apart. 

“Let’s Make America Great Again” starts from within. 

 Once we learn how to act civilized and know how to handle situations with dignity and not flames, we will become a nation that is strong enough to govern themselves without worrying about what crazy maniac, man or woman, runs our country. 

Of course we will still worry, but if we are strong enough, intelligent enough, and courageous enough, we will be able to handle situations peacefully. 

When I stop feeling like I am living in an everyday episode of the Purge, I will start believing that everyone is in this together for the right reasons again, instead of being offended by every meme on Facebook.

I am voting for myself, because if we all started voting for ourselves everyday, we would all realize that the true act of change in America begins from within-what we believe, perceive, and what we continue to contribute for the world.

"I'm in love with cities I've never been to and people I've never met," anonymous.

My book is open to chapter two, my computer is open to Microsoft Word ready to begin my dreaded essay, but my mind is somewhere else. I'm half ready to throw the book out the window and hop in the car and drive off away from my problems.

All I have learned in college so far, is that my body and my mind can be in two different places at once; how unfortunate that they both can't be in the same place. 

I want the open breeze flowing through my hair, not the sneeze from the guy sitting next to me slapping my face. No, I want the blue skies, the fresh air, and a scenery to be anything but college textbooks. 

I crave the open road, where each turn could lead me to a hundred different directions and amazing road side stops, not just another lecture hall. 

Can you miss something that isn't a person? Because I miss the feeling of taking a road trip. Never knowing where or when you may end up somewhere, even if you do know where you're going, half the adventure is the journey, not just the destination.

In my heart, I'm on the road. Following road sign after road sign. Eating breakfast at hole-in-the-wall diners. Staying in cheap motels just because. Getting gas in sketchy neighborhoods that remind me of some Hills Have Eyes sh*t. 

In my mind, I'm anywhere but here doing homework, preparing for my next class. I'm in the middle of no-where Nevada on my way out of Vegas. I'm eating waffles at midnight with friends in a crowded 24/7 IHOP. 

My heart longs for the open road of freedom, new places that I haven't been but already love. I'm wasting my days dreaming of precious memories to be made in the front seat of my car.

The best kind of moments come from the unexpected. The journey, the destination, the company, the entire trip on the road. 

If I could be anywhere that wasn't here writing an essay, I would be everywhere.

If you like what you read, follow Maddie Kelly for more!

"Family isn't an important thing, it's everything," Michael J Fox

First of all, I love you. Nothing could ever make me happier than being your wife and having my little family be with you. I promise you I will always put you and our children above all else, because you all are my world. 

Not only do I promise to always put you guys as my number one, but I also promise to create the best family memories together. We will take our children on trips, see new places and learn the culture of that state or country. We will teach them the importance of pictures, stories, and having an open mind. 

We will never fight in front of them, because I don't want them to grow up thinking fighting is a good thing (to the best of our ability). I promise I will always do my best to love you all and show you just how much I really do, even when I am really stressed and upset. 

We will take day trips as often as we can to promote a healthy and exciting life style for our children. The park, so they can run and play, the beach so they can jump in the waves, and the mountains so they can camp and sled and see the snow. 

We will always play with them, I don't want to see us lounge around on our phones when we should be paying attention to our own family. I promise I will spend less time on Facebook and more time on all of us. 

We will have family days, board game nights, we will take walks, and communicate together on a regular basis. 

Homework is number one priority when they are home from school. I know you don't get math as well as I do (even though my skills are slim to nothing), just do your best until I am there.

Above all else, I promise to love each and everyone of you with all my heart for the rest of my life. I promise to always be there for you guys to the best of my ability. 

I can't wait to meet our future children, my future husband (and current boyfriend). 

Love your future wife. 

"Autumn, the years last, loveliest smile," William Cullen Bryant.

As soon as September hit, summer was left in the dust – or better yet, the crinkled leaves of fall. It may still be summer by the calendar year, I'm ready to put away my swim suit, break out my sweaters and scarves, and focus my energy on scary movie marathons, pumpkin patches, and haunted houses. 

I love summer and all it's glory of boat rides and tan lines, however, the smell of autumn is one that can not be denied. I love the chilly air at night, the smell of apple cider being heated up on the stove, and the look of scarves and boots. 

As annoying as it may be to see pumpkin spice line every shelf and fill every cup, it's the best beginning to the last half of the year. 

Halloween may still be far, but I have the perfect idea for my costume. The beginning of fall symbolizes back to school, but it also is the beginning of every inner Halloween buff to show their true colors in all of their fall spirit. 

The colors are beautiful. Every tree lined road decorates itself for the season. As much as homeowners despise picking up the leaves, it adds a festive touch with their decorative pumpkins outlining the driveways.

It's a beautiful, happy time of the year. We can finally see that the end of something we thought was wonderful, gorgeous, and amazing can transform into something even more incredible. 

I can't wait for the cuddles watching endless marathons of everything spooky while sipping hot cider with the one I love. I can't wait for pumpkin patch dates, parties, and cute outfits fall brings. 

I love summer, the sun, and the sea, but the leaves and the scenery of a cool fall evening is calming and peaceful.

All hail the season of pumpkin spice! 

"Some people are so poor all they have is money," unknown.

Standing in a sea of dancing girls in bandanas, button up shirts, and cowgirl boots belting the lyrics to a Hunter Hayes song as he stood on stage playing his guitar, I couldn't help but notice the couple in front of me. Her entire outfit costs more than my entire car. I wasn't judging, simply admiring. 

She had it all. If I would have not known better, I would have called her perfect. She had amazing hair that I could only dream of getting to look the way hers did, her outfit looked like it came out of vogue, and her body was like a Victoria Secret Angel escaped the runway. 

Yet, she did not seem happy. 

Her boyfriend was just as perfect. Shiny hair slicked back with expensive gel, his loafers looked out of place in the world of cowboy boot attire, and his khaki shorts were perfectly ironed for the evening. They were beautiful looking. 

Out of all the sweaty, jumping people they stood out like a sore thumb. They didn't really look like they belonged here, but I still wasn't judging. 

She looked over at me as I admired their perfect everything, and I could feel the judgement raining down on me. 

I wore my dress with my cowgirl boots, and my hair was slightly a mess from the heat of the state fair. I was a bit sweaty, but who could blame me? It was in the high 90's after all. Yet she kept on glaring at me, even when I wasn't looking.

I knew that part of it was that my $20 outfit and crazy hair was no match for her giant Gucci bag and gorgeous runway hair. 

It's like they were Gods, the way they acted about themselves was like they were the only people in a jungle of monkeys. 

Her judging eyes didn't make me uncomfortable, actually it made me feel sad for her. 

She grew up thinking that you have to have the best of the best, and unfortunately in a world as poor in money in so many areas, that isn't how we live. Her attitude made her look unhappy, depressed, and like a major b*tch. I wouldn't want to talk to her.

Not sure anyone would if she crossed their path, they would probably roll their eyes and go the opposite way. 

She had everything that I didn't have except, she didn't have a heart. 

I saw the way she looked everyone around her up and down. Our Target purses were trash compared to her $1000 handbag and her sparkling Tiffany bracelet. I know she was probably thinking she felt bad for me, but I couldn't feel more sorry for her. 

We are all human, and if it takes a Gucci handbag to hide your sh*tty personality, than you are the one with the issue, and you're the one I will feel sorry for. You have been sheltered from the way life really is; a place to accept everyone without judgement, judging eyes, and a judging personality. 

Just because your bag is beautiful and you look stunning, doesn't mean I'm jealous of you, envious of your closet, and less than you because you can afford a bag that's worth more than my entire wardrobe. 

“I tramp a perpetual journey,” Walt Whitman

I walked across the stage after hearing my name be announced over the speakers to receive my ticket out the door of where I spent my last four years. Not one bit of me felt sadness over this part of my life ending; instead, I realized I now had a choice to make. 

My college plans were already made, I already had everything I needed, but I also had a full tank of gas, a full wallet, and the need to adventure. 

While most my friends were getting jobs right after our fun-filled graduation weekend, like we were trained to do, I quit mine that I had been at for the last year and a half. I quit, got in my car and I traveled. I did everything I could do.

I was free. 

Unstoppable.

I was an adult.

I had my own money.

And a curious mind.

I had an entire world to see, and I knew that once these short four months were up I would be living without my family, in a new city, taking new classes, and the time I could have spent adventuring would have flown out the window. 

I saved money for years. I bought my first car with it, and now I was able to put the rest – well some of it – into my adventures. I hopped on and off planes, saw new states, and camped all over my own state. 

I was with friends every week. Family camping trips. Spur of the moment riding adventures. I crashed all over this country with me newfound freedom. I had nothing tying me to my bedroom. I was able to spend my last few months being free, actually being free. 

I hit the gas pedal and just went with it. Any bump along the way became just another part of the journey. 

Concerts were a must, camping was an obvious obligation, and the beach was a necessity. Pictures captured it all and my social media looks like I never saw my home. Which in all reality, I only saw for a few days out of each month. 

I broke rules, laughed until I cried, and saw things I never thought possible. I had the time of my life living for me for a summer. 

I quit my job, never looked back, and felt the biggest rush of freedom I could have ever gotten. I tasted adulthood, but savored my childhood all at once. It was this sense of security that I knew would alter once my newest life became in the big city. 

I lived for the last chance before I began working and studying for the rest of my life. I wanted to ride out my childhood for as long as I could doing adult trips without any responsibility and I will never regret that choice. 

Here’s to the next adventure with my newest responsibilities. 

I've seen you opened up and real, but I loved you more than when I thought you were flawless and perfect. 

You let me in on your deepest, darkest secrets that not even your life long best friend knew, and instead of leaving you, it only drew me closer. 

You're not perfect by any sense of the word; but that's why I am so crazy for you. 

You drive when you're sad, punch the wall when you're mad, cuddle me when you're scared, and love every other time in between that. 

You have made plenty of mistakes in your life before me that you are ashamed of, but it's my job to remind you of how far you have come since than and how perfect my eyes see you. 

You're hot headed and short tempered. Most people don't know how to please you when you have a moment, but I know you just need your extra love in the moments when you feel everything is crashing down around you. 

You're not the smartest when it comes to books, you can't spell the best, and you are slow at reading the instruction manual, but you can fix anything in no time at all, you know everything about an engine and manly stuff I would never dream of knowing, and you can back up a giant truck with a trailer towed behind like a pro. 

You are the missing link for me. You pick up what I slack in. I got the books and you got the hands to fix anything. 

You are so far from perfect, but it's what makes me fall harder everyday.

I love the cowlick of your hair, the scars on your knee from a crash you got yourself into, and I love the little mole on your cheek. The imperfections that you hate about yourself, I love. 

They are part of you, and I love you; imperfections and all.