Let Your Soul Dance

Every summer of my life, my sibs and I spend time in a tiny beach town in New Jersey. It’s where our parents met and where we called “home” as we traveled as part of Dad’s Navy pilot career.

My great grandparents bought the house on the boardwalk around 1921, and it honestly hasn’t been updated very much. Blessedly, an indoor bathroom replaced the outdoor “facilities” before we hit our teen years.

It was a house filled with love and a VERY extended family — great grandmother, grandparents, parents, and 4 kids (all at the same time in 3 bedrooms — whaaat?). Looking back, I have no idea how we all fit, but we did.

It’s where we learned to sail and catch crabs and take “showers” in rainstorms.

And build memories.

Now I’m going to confess something… that even with a house FILLED with people, I often felt alone.

Like I wasn’t enough.

Like I wasn’t seen for me.

Because even then, I was different. I felt things waaaay too deeply. And I tried to hide the part of me that sparkled.