Joy & Memories

Joy is going to a queer bar for the first time, unafraid and safe with my people.

Joy is having an experience at 29 what many have at 18, without shame.

Joy is being seen at the core; the version of self I'm aligned with.

Joy is being present with no need to distract myself or escape.

Joy is laughing until my stomach hurts.

Joy is looking at my watch, realising two hours have passed in a blink.

Joy is living in a way the version of me two months ago would not believe was possible.

Joy is looking back at candid photos of my joy.

Joy is the quiet moments, felt viscerally in my soul.

I'm fully present within these moments, until it becomes a memory within the archives.

Recalled and looked back on.

As if no time has passed at all.

There's joy in the moment, and joy within the memory.

I feel it.

I remember it.

This is what aliveness feels like.