I've never been this far up the river and I don't want to go

I liked my birthday this year. I was born around 10:30 in the morning, and at that time this year, I was curling my awkward, tall body into a cave behind a waterfall, washing my face and hands in the ice cold water. I hope my whole year is like that: pressed to mossy rocks, my hands full of black loam and cold creek water. I don't know if I'm doing any good at all, but I'm going to keep trying. Be thankful and optimistic.

My horoscope for the week was, "Try not to jump to conclusions. Try to simply look."

My mom took this picture of me on a hike over the holiday, and I like it because I look very brave.