I am...Madalyn

I am a younger sister, partner in crime and devoted follower, fellow adventurer and confidant.

I am an older sister to two, a fierce protector and care-giver, always loving but often irritable.

I am a friend, intensely loyal those that I love like family. Even though we share no blood, we share laughter and sorrows and bring light and compassion into each others lives.

I am a tutor, diligently working to help those in my school and community learn the skills they need to succeed.

I am rich and bitter coffee, steaming from a stainless steel cup in the cold morning air.

I am the views I've seen from my hammock, the lakes and the rivers, the canyons and forests, the night sky and the sunrise.

I am crisp autumn leaves, all the hues of fire, fluttering in a brisk wind and streaming down from the sunlight treetops to land in heaps upon the ground.

I am the wind whispering through the woods, and the light of the full moon touching upon the forest, and the quiet gurgling of a stream.

I am the sound of the rain dripping against my hammock’s rain fly, the wind gently rocking me as I lay curled in a cozy cocoon of blankets, my dog curled quietly in the space below me.

I am a cup of oolong tea, poured from a whimsical teapot decorated with mushrooms.

I am a musician, djembe tucked against me like an extension of my body, vibrating with all the exhilaration, emotion, energy, love, pain, and feeling I pour into it, the deep beats it produces resounding like a heartbeat.

I am running barefoot through a field under the light of the moon and the stars, splashing in streams, and climbing to the the very tops of trees.

I am stacks and piles of well-worn books, some well aligned and sorted upon shelves, and some haphazardly stowed wherever room could be found.

I am long skirts and flowy shirts, loose and free, dark colored, and covered in dog hair.

I am a long coat, made of a random assortment of colors and patterns, heavy and warm and hand stitched with love.

I am a firedancer, swirling the fierce bright beast around my body in entrancing patterns, or spitting orbs of it into the sky.

I am a pair of snakeskin boots, with the snake heads still on the toes shouting a clear message: don’t tread on me.