She sighed; it may have been the end of the world, but it was also the beginning of a beautiful relationship.
Bailey didn’t know how to feel. Her family completely abandoned her when she needed them the most, but this stranger, this beautiful soul, a real friend for the first time in a long time – this person came out of nowhere and helped her.
Nobody had ever done that for her before. Every friend Bailey ever had, or thought she had, abandoned her when she needed them the most. Now her family was doing the same thing. Maybe it was her.
‘What is wrong with me?’ she always wondered as people abandoned her one after the other. And, for the first time, she was able to ask it allowed. Someone was there to answer, someone was there to care.
Bailey always dreamed of starting a life of her own. She knew she wanted to change the world. Full of high hopes and big ambitions and dreams of adventures and seeing the world, she left home to find herself after she graduated high school.
Planning was not one of her strengths. Everything came as it went and went as it came. It was just her and the world and she embraced that feeling. She was free, she was happy, she was herself. Finally.
At home, she never felt like she belonged. She was different. Different from her family, different from her friends, different from the town in general. There was nowhere she could go to make her fit in. Bailey knew there was a big world waiting for her to be able to find herself and find people like her.
All over the country, Bailey drove stopping anywhere that caught her eye, caught her interest. Hailing from small town Kansas, she was pretty much centered in the country and had infinite directions to go. And she went every direction.
First towards Washington. So many beautiful stories about that area and Seattle – home of coffee and rain and grunge and the ocean and the mountains and beautiful forests and ‘Sleepless in Seattle’ - it seemed like the perfect place to start an internal journey.
While in Seattle, Bailey met Lana and they had an instant connection. Lana was on a journey of her own. From small town Indiana, she had the same feelings as Bailey; not fitting in the small town life, high hopes, big dreams, adventure chasing and together, they were going to explore and change the world and find themselves.
It was perfect. At least it seemed so. After a few months of Seattle, the rain got old and they were on their way, down to California. They didn’t want to be like everyone else, though; LA was not the dream. Bailey and Lana just drove the coast until they found a nice little quiet beach town. Surfing and sailing was the life. Polishing surf boards paid for meals and other than that, they lived on the beach.
When winter set in, it was off to Colorado for the snowboarding. Spring brought a trip to the Grand Canyon for some paragliding and rock climbing. And on they went. Adventure after adventure. As time went on, they started talking about actually starting life and tried to figure out if they were finding themselves or just trying to avoid it.
Bailey missed home. She wanted to visit her family. She wrote letters of her adventures and sent holiday wishes through the months but, she wanted to see them again. Lana was not interested in going to Kansas, though. All this time they spent together and all Bailey asked was a weekend in Kansas.
Lana reluctantly agreed. They were going to go straight from Kansas to Memphis and up to New York after that. It was time to show the East Coast Bailey and Lana – the two small town girls who were going to change the world and really live.
It was going to be a surprise. Bailey wasn’t going to tell anyone she was coming through town, she was just going to show up.
Well, apparently, that was not acceptable. Bailey’s mom seemed to think that her going off to discover herself and the world meant she abandoned the family. Lana didn’t like that Bailey’s mom was so upset about them coming and told her how she felt. Bailey tried to break up the argument. She apologized to her mom for coming unannounced. She apologized to Lana for dragging her into her family drama.
Her mom kicked her out; told her not to bother coming back if she didn’t have the decency to call ahead of time.
Lana took off to Memphis on her own with the ultimatum of “her or me”.
And that left Bailey. All alone. Back in small town Kansas. With nothing. She stopped in the diner across town for a cup of reflective coffee. It was so bad it made her miss Seattle. But she sat there. She sat there for hours – thinking, reflecting, realizing she had no idea who she was or what she wanted after all of that and now she has nothing.
As she was getting ready to head out to who knows where, in walks the stranger that will change her life forever.
Bailey didn’t know how to feel. Her family completely abandoned her when she needed them the most, but this stranger, this beautiful soul, a real friend for the first time in a long time – this person came out of nowhere and helped her.
Nobody had ever done that for her before. Every friend Bailey ever had, or thought she had, abandoned her when she needed them the most. Now her family was doing the same thing. Maybe it was her.
‘What is wrong with me?’ she always wondered as people abandoned her one after the other. And, for the first time, she was able to ask it allowed. Someone was there to answer, someone was there to care.
Bailey always dreamed of starting a life of her own. She knew she wanted to change the world. Full of high hopes and big ambitions and dreams of adventures and seeing the world, she left home to find herself after she graduated high school.
Planning was not one of her strengths. Everything came as it went and went as it came. It was just her and the world and she embraced that feeling. She was free, she was happy, she was herself. Finally.
At home, she never felt like she belonged. She was different. Different from her family, different from her friends, different from the town in general. There was nowhere she could go to make her fit in. Bailey knew there was a big world waiting for her to be able to find herself and find people like her.
All over the country, Bailey drove stopping anywhere that caught her eye, caught her interest. Hailing from small town Kansas, she was pretty much centered in the country and had infinite directions to go. And she went every direction.
First towards Washington. So many beautiful stories about that area and Seattle – home of coffee and rain and grunge and the ocean and the mountains and beautiful forests and ‘Sleepless in Seattle’ - it seemed like the perfect place to start an internal journey.
While in Seattle, Bailey met Lana and they had an instant connection. Lana was on a journey of her own. From small town Indiana, she had the same feelings as Bailey; not fitting in the small town life, high hopes, big dreams, adventure chasing and together, they were going to explore and change the world and find themselves.
It was perfect. At least it seemed so. After a few months of Seattle, the rain got old and they were on their way, down to California. They didn’t want to be like everyone else, though; LA was not the dream. Bailey and Lana just drove the coast until they found a nice little quiet beach town. Surfing and sailing was the life. Polishing surf boards paid for meals and other than that, they lived on the beach.
When winter set in, it was off to Colorado for the snowboarding. Spring brought a trip to the Grand Canyon for some paragliding and rock climbing. And on they went. Adventure after adventure. As time went on, they started talking about actually starting life and tried to figure out if they were finding themselves or just trying to avoid it.
Bailey missed home. She wanted to visit her family. She wrote letters of her adventures and sent holiday wishes through the months but, she wanted to see them again. Lana was not interested in going to Kansas, though. All this time they spent together and all Bailey asked was a weekend in Kansas.
Lana reluctantly agreed. They were going to go straight from Kansas to Memphis and up to New York after that. It was time to show the East Coast Bailey and Lana – the two small town girls who were going to change the world and really live.
It was going to be a surprise. Bailey wasn’t going to tell anyone she was coming through town, she was just going to show up.
Well, apparently, that was not acceptable. Bailey’s mom seemed to think that her going off to discover herself and the world meant she abandoned the family. Lana didn’t like that Bailey’s mom was so upset about them coming and told her how she felt. Bailey tried to break up the argument. She apologized to her mom for coming unannounced. She apologized to Lana for dragging her into her family drama.
Her mom kicked her out; told her not to bother coming back if she didn’t have the decency to call ahead of time.
Lana took off to Memphis on her own with the ultimatum of “her or me”.
And that left Bailey. All alone. Back in small town Kansas. With nothing. She stopped in the diner across town for a cup of reflective coffee. It was so bad it made her miss Seattle. But she sat there. She sat there for hours – thinking, reflecting, realizing she had no idea who she was or what she wanted after all of that and now she has nothing.
As she was getting ready to head out to who knows where, in walks the stranger that will change her life forever.