Melissa Rose Boisclair

They have been symbols of rebirth since the beginning of time. (Maybe a bit of an exaggeration.) And they've been a growing symbol in my life for as long as I can remember. I'm not what you would call a fiery person, or at least I didn't believe myself to be. I was water, flowing cool and strong, and constant. Steady, until tested. Harmless, until experienced. More so lately I've tapped into my fire, and this bird has taken hold, and taken flight. I've been through my fair share of troubles. My heart has been ripped out and bloodied so many times that I have moments where I wonder just how it is I kept moving forward. I remember, in the deepest pit of my despair, going on long walks. I just wanted to stop. I would look at my feet and ask myself, "Why am I doing it? I can sit down on the road, and stop moving. I don't have to keep holding myself up. I don't have to keep walking." I continued anyway. One step at a time, my legs carried me forwa...

Everyone loves spring and fall. Summer can be brutishly hot, winter treacherously cold. But spring and fall are perfect. Cool and warm, and so colorful for such a fleeting amount of time. For the sake of the current season, lets stick to spring. Spring smells lovely. All the trees are in bloom and even when the petals fall it puts a carpet of pink and white over everything, but it lasts for such a short while. It's the lesson of the cherry blossom. Beauty is fleeting, that's what makes it so coveted. Every single year it comes I find myself wishing it'll never end. The birds singing in a crisp morning, the flowers falling around me when I take my morning run. Even the spring rain seems more gentle and musical. This year I started to wonder, do I really want it to be like this forever? It would be nice in some aspects. Never to cold to get out and run. Never so hot I can't sleep without peeling my cloths off my skin. If it were always spring, it would loose it'...

...the last day of your life. Most people would finish it like that wouldn't they? I never liked it, and I couldn't place my finger on why until I heard it differently. "Live each day like it's the first day of your life." There's something dark about thinking each day is the last. To live each day like it's your last, it might make you want to live it to the fullest all the time. Do the things you always wanted to do, but never did because of one excuse or another. It might make you want to tell the people you love just how much you love them. It may even make you realize that your wasting your time being completely miserable, working a job you hate, and being a person you detest. Then there's that tight knot under your shoulder blades. That hooded figure whispering in your ear, "This is the last day of your life." Maybe it's not so noticeable, but living with the intention, the feeling that this is the last day of your life,...