Free writing.

Occasionally-- meaning at least once a week-- I like to sit at Starbucks for a few hours and just write.  I don't filter anything, I don't try to make it sound good or try to force a storyline onto the pages.  I sit down with my favorite notebook and write whatever comes to mind.  Usually I end up writing several short stories.  Here's one that I wrote the other day, while the song 'Africa' by Toto came on.  (Not that it's completely related, but kind of.)

Wanderlust
by Laurel Burlew
    Building up inside was the desire-- the fire-- the insurmountable need-- to leave.  To escape the world around and to instead discover a new one.  She looked through pages of books, covered every inch in maps.  Here?  There?  Each place had its own charm and appeal.  Where to start?  A smile crossed her lips as she pulled out a map of the world and fingered one specific spot.  'Yes, here.'  She said to herself.  'This is the place to which I am being called.'
    The pennies added up day by day, week by week.  Dollars turned into more dollars, and the hope she held inside begged to come out into the open.  Clamoring inside, it could not be sated by anything or replaced by any other hope or dream.  She was helplessly gone, unable to return to the world she knew before or the life she had in the past.  It consumed her, and she let it, because life without this passion felt dead and grey.
    Some laughed; others scoffed.  They all said it would not happen.  Life ensnared them all too quickly and they could not see past their next raise at work or payment on an apartment.  The world had long ago lost its charm for them, and they could not see the way she did.  Nor did they want to; they had been consumed for too long.  They spend their days wandering about in their cages, decorating and calling this or that 'lovely.'  It was all about money.
    But for her!  She saw beyond the confines of the mundane.  She was able to peer into something else, and it was there she found her life.  She made her home there and fell in love with the beauty of ordinary things.  And in time, she was able to spread her wings and soar.  Though they still laughed at the thought of her, they never knew she surmounted so much more than they ever could.  She left their life behind and sought a new one beyond the horizon.  There, she found more than words could ever describe.
~The End~

To finish this post up, here's a quote I like: "Spread love everywhere you go.  Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier." ~Mother Teresa.  I am a quote person, and I LOVE quotes.  So if you know of any great ones, please share them!
Until next time!
 ~Laurel