A post full of thanks...

In this season of Thanksgiving, I am continually reminded of the blessings that surround me in the forms of people, feelings, experiences, and physical objects, among other things. Please excuse me for a few moments as I take some time to thank just a few of the amazing and incredible people in my life individually and publicly. (Though don't, by any means, think that these are the only people I'm grateful to. If I had time, I could write so very many thanks.)
MOM: Thank you for giving birth to me. Seriously, that's a big deal. ;) hahaha! Also, thank you for being one of my best friends. You are an incredibly forgiving, compassionate, and merciful individual and I can only hope to become the type of person that you are. You have always been an example for me of all that I should aspire to be... and you have taught me, as well, to follow my dreams and to be my own person, as unique and different as I may sometimes be. Thank you for always encouraging and supporting me, and for being my tv watching buddy. ;) I love you!
DADDY: You're absolutely ridiculously stubborn and sometimes it's completely obnoxious. Thank you for passing that on to me and showing me how it can also be used positively! I mean, I could rewrite that first sentence to say, "you're absolutely, incredibly steadfast and sometimes it is completely inspiring" and it would be just as true. ;) Anyway, thank you for also raising me in such a way that I recognize the value of being headstrong, independent, honest, and having a good sense of humor. Oh, and thank you for teaching me the value of an education and proper grammar. Proper grammar is practically a lost art, right?! hahaha! Thank you also for being the most wonderful, protective Daddy. After all, if those guys can't handle an interview with you, they're not worth a date anyway. ;) I love you!
KATRINA: I hate you. Oh, wait. Just kidding. This is a loving post. I guess, then, I should tell you that I absolutely love you and you are seriously fantastic. No joke. Psych and half a carton of ice cream? Yes please. How else would we spend our time? ;) Seriously, though, you are so inspiring. Your testimony of the gospel is so steadfast and it translates into all that you do. You really are like a sister to me, and I SUPER appreciate the fact that you don't like unnecessary drama. It makes hanging out and talking so easy, because I feel the same way. hahaha! Thank you, Katrina, for being an example to me, and for being such a wonderful friend. I love you!
KATHERINE: Thank you, darling, for sticking around through thick and thin. You are so much fun to be around and even though sometimes I'm an absolute party pooper who is way too lazy or tired or grumpy or sick or who knows what else to be any fun myself, you still put up with me. I'm sorry that sometimes I might take you for granted, and that I'm not always the best at expressing that I'm here for you, but just know that I always am. I love you so much and I have so much faith in you and what you can accomplish. don't let the world drag you down, hun, you've got so much good inside of you!! I love you!
OLIVIA: Thank you for always being so kind to me. I know that when we first met, I didn't give off the most welcoming vibes, and that maybe I haven't always shown the most appreciation for you. So I wanted to take the time to tell you that I love you, I am grateful for you, and I love that you bring my brother so much joy. You are so very talented, and I'm thankful that you show honest interest in what I'm working on, because it makes it so that I'm always excited to show you what I accomplish. I always admire your testimony and your talent, and I am so grateful that you share both with the world. I love you!
GRACIE: I miss you when you're at college! I loved that while you were here I got to have such a wonderful talk with you and Katherine. You are a great listener. I have always looked up to you in a lot of ways, and I can remember always thinking that you were so incredible as I looked up to you at girlscamp my first few years. As I've gotten to actually know you since then, you've become a dear friend, and I am so glad that I've been blessed with your friendship. I love you!
LEE: Thank you for always making me smile. :) You are such a sweet person, and you are absolutely a hopeless romantic. I have no doubt that you will marry someone absolutely wonderful! I'm thankful that I can talk to you about whatever I'm going through, good or bad. You have been super supportive of me ever since we met, and I am so very grateful for your loving friendship. I'm thankful that you have a love for the gospel and for your family, and I believe that you can do so much good as you continue to grow in your testimony and as an individual. Thank you for being a dear friend. :) I'm so thankful, also, that we can be honest with one another. I seriously can't wait until we get the chance to hang out and go on some adventures! I love you!
GEOFFREY: First of all, thank you for being a best friend before you even knew it. ;) Thank you even more, though, for sticking around. Like I mentioned, I haven't had a lot of guys who cared about their friendship with me enough to really make effort to keep it up. It has always been obvious from how Kaitlyn and Elizabeth talked about you, but now I can say without a doubt - you are one of the most incredible and fantastic older brothers anyone could ever wish for. Thank you for being a part of our family, for late night conversations about my screwed up brain, for intense games (I knew you'd be fun to play Curses with!), and for honest communication. I hope you know you're pretty much stuck with me telling you all kinds of things, in whatever form of communication I need to use. Being busy is no escape - I'm afraid you'll still be stuck with me telling you at least the important things. And hopefully sometimes you'll have time to talk to me too. ;) Thanks again for sticking around! I look up to you so much and I love you!
JACOB: I've gotta say, it's super satisfying to say one of my super opinionated statements and just have someone say that there is no argument for it. ;) Thank you for being a fantastic listener, and for making such a wonderful effort to keep in touch after you got home. I can't wait for you to visit! I am looking forward to all of your jokes. I am seriously so thankful for your sense of humor. It's fantastic. Also, Jesus loves you. And so do I! :)
Well. It's kind of 2 AM, and I have volleyball in the morning. So I should really get some sleep. Maybe I'll write more of these another time, but no promises.
Y'all are fantastic. And if you are reading this, I love you. If you are reading this and we aren't close or I don't know you, that's okay... I still have love for you. ;) I don't know what I did to be so blessed, but I am eternally grateful for it!

Definition of a Hopeless Romantic

I am a hopeless romantic.
What does that mean, to be a hopeless romantic?
This question was on my mind today when a dear friend asked me what my definition of a hopeless romantic is, after I told him that I most definitely am one. I decided to research online to answer in the moment, because I couldn't put my thoughts together. All of my thoughts, however, have been rolling around in my mind since then, and now I need to put them together in writing. So, Lee, this is for you! This is how I, personally, would define a hopeless romantic...

To be a hopeless romantic is to find yourself dreaming always of true love, whether you've found it or are still looking. To be a hopeless romantic is to believe in the joy of companionship and romance, passion and gentleness. Hopeless romantics will give all they have to the one they love. They love deeply, completely, entirely... and dangerously. They will hand their whole heart to whomever they love, and do so willingly and joyfully (if at times with a certain amount of fear). Hopeless romantics do not feel, in any way, hopeless; on the contrary a hopeless romantic has such immense hope that it is impossible for them to escape immense pain when their heart, so willingly offered, is returned in pieces.
What, then, becomes of a hopeless romantic once their heart has been broken, if they are so very apt to believe in true love? Hopeless romantics, though they suffer immense heartbreak, still believe in love. That is their very definition - to always believe in love. Whatever amount of time it takes any given individual to heal from heartbreak, if they are truly a hopeless romantic, they will find solace in their belief that they will, inevitably, find one whom they can love with all their heart, and who will love them in return. A hopeless romantic who does not currently have someone to call their own longs and aches for the joy and excitement and love found in romance. They are not, however, to be confused with one who is desperate. Hopeless romantics are not desperate, not in the least; they do, however, long to find one who can return their love so completely as they offer it.
Hopeless romantics hold dear to their hearts every little gesture of kindness and affection, every sweet and gentle communication of love. To a hopeless romantic, the arms of the one they love are home, and just to be held is heaven. A simple hug is as dear to them as anything. They adore the feeling of their love playing with their hair, holding their hand, whispering in their ear. The one they love can simply nudge their side, look in their eyes for an extra moment, or make them a heart out of a straw wrapper, and it will make their entire day. The brush of a hand on their cheek, or of lips on their forehead, rings true to them as a profession of love - because that is their own intention when they do such gentle things. Any small way they can communicate the love they feel for someone, they want to do. This is not to say that hopeless romantics do not also take immense pleasure in larger expressions of love, but the way they hold the little things dear is what sets them apart from other lovers. For who does not want to buy the one they love an extravagant gift? The distinction, then, is clearly that simple actions and interactions mean just as much to them as anything money can buy. As a definition I found online said (see link at the end of post), "they make romance into an art form."
Another piece of the online definition that I loved was the final paragraph: "Hopeless romantics are the idealists, the sentimental dreamers, the imaginative, and the fanciful. They give the world its once-upon-a-times and happily-ever-afters. Hopeless romantics may have their feet on the ground, but their souls fly somewhere over the rainbow."
And that last sentance, I think, is also profound (as cheesy as it may be). Not all hopeless romantics are open to the world about how hopelessly romantic they are. Many are level-headed individuals in most situations, and yet are inwardly (sometimes even secretly) completely and totally a hopeless romantic.
And that... that is me. I am a hopeless romantic.
Definition referenced: http://au.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080305010701AAWFQtb

The Way That Rain Loves

"I think the stories have it wrong," She whispered as she traced a drop of water down the window. A faint smile playing on her lips, she closed her eyes and dreamt for a blissful moment before explaining. 
"Rain isn't the weather of tragedies; it's the most romantic weather of all. The skies are not crying because they are sad. The water is simply falling to the ground in the same way that you or I fall in love. Sometimes it falls quickly, painfully so. And yet even after a hard landing, the water jumps back off of the ground, dancing joyously."

Her eyes glittered when she turned around. "That, I think, is why the rain is so inviting to us dreamers. We want to dance with the water, holding the one we love close with a smile on our lips and a twinkle in our eyes. We want them to kiss our face as persistently as the rain kisses the ground, to cover our eyes and make us laugh while the clouds cover the sky, and to whisper in our ears the beautiful secrets that the rain sings aloud as it plays in the leaves. The rain pushes two cold people together, so they will warm each other up and find comfort each other's presence. I love the rain, because it understands how to love passionately, if at times unexpectedly."

May we all find the beauty and romance in rain!

Tears of Healing

(The tale of what a young girl was able to gain from her own tears.)
There was a young girl, innocent in action and naive in thought, who was tossed terribly by waves of constant hardship and turmoil. Eventually, lost in the confusion caused by the feeling of being punished having committed no crime, the gir

l fell to her knees and she cried. Large tears of pain and sorrow dropped from her face to the floor below. She cried to the sky, begging for an explanation as to why she was forced to endure such trials.
An angel came to the girl and asked her why she was crying. When the girl explained that she felt the anguish of one suffering greatly, and seemingly without cause, the angel crouched beside her.

"My child," said the heavenly being gently, "think less of why you're crying, and think more of what can come of such innocent tears."
Further confused now, the girl looked to the angel as tears continued streaming from her eyes. "But what good can my tears do?"
"That is something that you must come to understand, my darling child. This is what you shall do: collect in this teacup the tears which you cry. When the teacup is filled to the point that it is spilling from the sides, you will be able to feel the healing power of your own tears."
And with that the angel left. Hopeful of feeling better in the near future, the girl did as she was told, kneeling over the cup such that her large tears splashed inside. However, the girl occasionally became discouraged, for the fuller the teacup became, the more of her tears seemed to splash from the teacup onto the surrounding ground. The loss of what was meant to heal her lose hope for a moment, and she looked around to see a little boy looking lost and afraid. She left the teacup for a moment, and went to ask the boy what was wrong.
"I'm lost," said the child. "My mother has been taken from me, and now she's in a happy place, but I've been left behind and I don't know what to do on my own!"
The girl's eyes welled up once more, this time on behalf of the boy's pain. She embraced the boy for a moment, and then took his hand and ran back to her teacup, crying tears of sympathy into the dish. When the cup was running over with the salty water, the girl picked it up and handed it to the boy.
"Drink this!" She said, overcome with emotion. "You need the healing more than I."
As the young boy drank from the teacup, he knew that tears had been cried for him, and in this he found a comfort and a love which he could find nowhere else. As he hugged the girl and they both cried tears of joy, the girl knew that the healing power of the tears was not in drinking it herself.

For only in filling the needs of another and loving them with all her heart was she able to learn from and gain strength from her own tears.

Let me introduce myself...

Hello! My name is Katie Carson. I was born in 1995, so I'm currently 17 years old and I am a senior in high school. I am one of those people who can't seem to pick one interest and stick with it - I love writing, drawing, painting, playing piano, acting, singing, photography, sewing and designing clothing, and so much more. As you can tell, my interests pretty much all fall into the category of "the arts". This is because my brain processes so much through the use of stories and visuals. When I'm faced with emotional experiences, often my feelings will work themselves out by arranging themselves into stories. And then my mind creates images which I long to create physically - which is why I love photography and artwork.

I created this blog because sometimes those stories and images are just bursting from my brain, desperately needing to escape. My goal is that a lot of people will read this blog and be able to relate, or at least to be touched, by some of the things that spill out of my overflowing mind. Please share this blog or any stories and images from it with anyone who you think can benefit - whether it will actually help them with a struggle, put a smile on their face, or just be something that they appreciate.

I'm sure you'll get to know more about me if you read this blog regularly. As for now, I don't think I really want to sit here and write about myself any more than I have.

Enjoy and share! :)