Category: My Loves

  • The Playground That Holds Decades of Me

    Yuka

    Mundy Park—a little ballpark in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. The park right behind my childhood house. The place I complained about walking just one loop with my family. The place where I first walked my childhood dog. The place I learned to ride a bike. The place with the hill everyone sledded down in winter. The Read more

  • All You Need Is One Good Friend

    Yuka

    Lately, a lot of my friends have been getting engaged, talking about marriage, or just downright trying for a child to start a family. My most recent friend who got engaged has been talking about her wedding and what could possibly happen for her bachelorette. Obviously, that makes me think about my love life and Read more

  • Could Die Happy

    Yuka

    ,

    Yesterday felt like the day I could die. I got to the top of Mount Katahdin and I felt done — like there wasn’t anything left for me to complete. I stood there, leaning on the sign that read 5,269 ft high, and for a second I couldn’t stop myself from crying. I don’t know Read more

  • Balcony Breakfasts & Boat Boy

    Yuka

    Twice in the last month, I’ve spent entire days doing absolutely nothing—except being wrapped up in a bed, couch, or dining room table with a man. My phone ceases to exist, school gets tossed out the window, and for a day I get to be blissfully ignorant of all the things I should be doing. Instead, I’m Read more

  • When the Parrots Arrived, I Knew It Was Serious

    Yuka

    ,

    Here I am again… in the middle of the woods with little to no cell service, having the most peaceful day of my life. I’m currently at New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia, and this is probably the oddest national park I’ve been to so far. No entrance fee, no parking pass, no Read more

  • The Power of Redefining Greatness

    Yuka

    , ,

    When I was applying for college during my undergrad, there was a section of the application that asked for a personal statement/essay. The other day, I stumbled upon the file that I had hidden for years and read it for the first time in seven years. I wrote about how my biggest fear was time—the Read more