{"id":10561,"date":"2020-11-18T09:04:38","date_gmt":"2020-11-18T15:04:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/?p=10561"},"modified":"2020-11-18T09:04:50","modified_gmt":"2020-11-18T15:04:50","slug":"you-only-live-twice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/2020\/11\/18\/you-only-live-twice\/","title":{"rendered":"you only live twice"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

in 6th grade, or maybe it was 7th – i can’t really remember, my mom took my sister and i to a nearby town where they had a ton of christmas lights displayed all over the shopping center. canton lights are a big deal for central mississippi, oftentimes becoming an integral part of the holiday experience for most. i’ve only been once, but i have friends that go annually, which goes to show just how seriously some people take it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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every christmas eve, my mom’s side of the family has a huge gathering somewhere in pearl. we have a long-standing tradition of having dinner, then celebrating the holiday in a somewhat consistent routine. this has always been something my family looks forward to, and i don’t think it shows any signs of obsoletion.

aside from everything christmas, the same side of the family also has a large gathering for thanksgiving every year. we won’t be taking part this year due to COVID, but hopefully our plans pick back up as soon as the virus goes away.

more often than not, my grandfather keeps my siblings and i at his house for the night of new years eve, going all the way back to 2009, i remember. we shoot fireworks, play with sparklers, throw firecrackers at each other, and sometimes wake up early the next morning to get breakfast together.

sometimes during the summer, my family takes a trip to highlands, north carolina, where we spend the week listening to the creek beside the house – or traveling gorges state park, playing in the waterfalls and exploring. it’s quite the hike, but well worth the experience. i remember going with my mom and sister one year – i think it was the summer between 7th and 8th grade – and we went to turtleback falls. turtleback falls is a natural watercliff, just past rainbow falls (which is gorgeous, by the way), that features a 20ft drop from the edge of the cliff to the surface of the cold water collecting at the bottom. my sister and i both slid off of it, which, for the record, is the only reason i know just how cold it is. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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i say all that to circle back to my original point: you only live twice. i\u2019d forgotten about a few of these memories, even though some of them are recurring, it\u2019s like they\u2019re tucked away in some part of my mind that only allows me to remember them when called upon. but as i started thinking the other day, about some of my fondest childhood memories and what i want to do with my life beyond them. some part of me, though, felt like these memories were incomplete \u2013 there was something else<\/i> i had to do, and i think i\u2019ve discovered it.<\/p>\n

there are memories that you make with your family, and that\u2019s fine \u2013 but if there\u2019s some that you feel emotionally attached to, you have to go back.<\/p>\n

we are not meant to live our lives alone, but to an extent, i think we have to. we have to experience things either on our own or with our families, but i think it\u2019s important to experience them again \u2013 live twice: it starts when you find the people you want to take on the world with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

in 6th grade, or maybe it was 7th – i can’t really remember, my mom took my sister and i to a nearby town where they had a ton of christmas lights displayed all over the shopping center. canton lights are a big deal for central mississippi, oftentimes becoming an integral part of the holiday … Continue reading “you only live twice”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10561"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/67"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10561"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10598,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10561\/revisions\/10598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.msabrookhaven.org\/literary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}