Message In A Bottle

     Today, my family took me to San Juan De Gaztelugatxe, a place in Northern Spain. It is the most beautiful place I've ever been in my life. I've honestly never seen anything like it. But I didn't go just for the sightseeing, I went because my host mom thought it'd be a good idea to do something special for my friend who unfortunately passed recently. She had the brilliant idea of writing a letter, putting it in a bottle, and tossing it into the ocean, as a sort of symbolic goodbye. She's kind of a genius.
     So, I wrote my letter to Juliet...but it wasn't just to Juliet. I took it as an opportunity to say my goodbyes to all the things I've been too afraid to let go of. I said my goodbyes to Juliet, but I also said my goodbyes to my first and only love, and to all the pain I've felt over the years. This was my goodbye to friends gone, to love lost, and to hearts broken. I don't want to hold onto any of that anymore. I think I've been holding onto all of it for so long because I thought that if I let it go, it'd be over...that I'd be over. I've gone through so much, and I've dealt with my fair share of hard times, but I've never let any of it go, because I thought the ache of dealing with it would be too much to bear. But I've realized recently that in reality, the pain gets worse every day that I hold onto all the things I should have let go a long time ago. So, it was time to say goodbye to all the things I'd never had the will to say goodbye to before.
     But, this wasn't only a goodbye. It's to holding onto hope and never letting it go. It's to dreaming like you can have the whole world. It's to loving like you've never been hurt. It's to finding your way when you've gotten lost. It's to trying new things. It's to saying and doing the things you're afraid of. And it's to never forgetting the past, but being able to let it go. This is to the future.
     I walked to the edge of a cliff in the most beautiful place I've ever been, and I took a few minutes to say my goodbyes, to shed a tear for those lost, and to smile because there's so much more to come. Then I threw it in the water. At first, it felt the same. I felt the same...
     I was taking pictures of the sunset by the beach, and then I just took a few minutes to stop staring through the screen of my phone, and to really see what was in front of me. That's when I felt it. I finally felt at peace. That was the moment that I finally felt free. That was the moment that I finally felt alive. And I realized that these are the moments I want to hold onto forever. These are the moments I don't want to forget...these are the moments I don't think I ever could.