Through the Fog

Tag: survival

  • When the Magnolias Bloom

    When the magnolias bloom,

    the world remembers how to soften.

    White petals open like quiet forgiveness,

    thick with scent and patience,

    unhurried by whatever we rushed through.

    They bloom after the cold

    as if it never owned them,

    as if survival didn’t leave marks.

    No announcement.

    No apology.

    Just beauty insisting on itself.

    I think about timing then—

    how some things wait until they’re ready,

    how some hearts don’t open

    until the frost finally loosens its grip.

    How blooming late

    doesn’t mean blooming wrong.

    When the magnolias bloom,

    I let myself believe in return.

    In second chances that don’t explain themselves.

    In tenderness strong enough

    to come back every year

    without asking who stayed to see it.

    And for a moment,

    everything feels possible again—

    not because life is easy,

    but because something beautiful

    chose to open anyway.

  • Gratitude

    I don’t always say it out loud,

    but I’m grateful.

    Not in some big, dramatic way —

    just in the quiet, steady way you feel

    when you look back and realize

    you survived things you thought would break you.

    I’m grateful for the people who stayed,

    and even the ones who left,

    because they taught me something

    I didn’t know I needed.

    I’m grateful for the days that felt impossible

    and the nights I didn’t think I’d make it through,

    because somehow I did.

    I’m grateful for the small things —

    the ones nobody notices

    but somehow keep me going:

    a warm drink,

    a song I forgot I loved,

    a moment where my chest doesn’t feel so heavy.

    And I’m grateful for myself,

    even if I don’t say it enough.

    For the version of me that kept trying

    when it would’ve been easier to give up.

    Gratitude doesn’t fix everything,

    but it reminds me that not everything is broken.

    And some days,

    that’s enough.