:: in which, I fall in love ::

it's happened, guys.

I'm in love.

his name is george.

just kidding. I mean, it will be, one day, although that is a story for another time, but for now --
we were in kitty hawk this past week for a (MUCH NEEDED) vacation (well, specifically, kill devil hills is where our hotel was located), and while there, my mom and jess and I hang glided.

hung glide? hung glid?

we went hang gliding. whatever.

I was almost silly here, like "GUYS AND IT WAS AWESOME" but really all-caps doesn't express how utterly breathtaking and awe-ful it was. I'm serious guys. it was awesome.
utterly incredible.
magnificently glorious and wonderful. I cannot express how much I loved it and I cannot wait to do it again. I got to steer the glider and I got to see all the way out, over currituck sound, past the outer-est of the outer banks to the glistening atlantic; I saw the inversion layer (ah, meteorology, finally something practical) and I could see where the hazy mist bent as the globe began to curve. the air was cool and it rushed past (although I felt like I was sitting still) and it was silent.

silent except for my constant, "oh my gosh, this is beautiful. how gorgeous. it's AMAZING.

I LOVE IT!!!!!"

my instructor thought I was hilarious, but he understood, because when you're dedicated like he is, you love meeting people as crazy as you are about the same things. I wanted to hug him for understanding.

it was better than a roller coaster (we made it do the crazy up and down that a roller coaster does, only in this case, we were suspended in air, and it was me flipping us upside down and nosediving, no track or straps or anything but thermals keeping us from crash-and-burning). I almost cried from sheer joy -- this is what birds feel like. this is what I've wanted to do for my entire life, the exact thing I long for whenever I'm swinging at a park and wish the swing could break off and take me up, up, up above the world. I hadn't ever realized it was hang gliding I wanted when I wrote about this longing as my 10-year-old self, but when I did it, I knew this is what I wanted. this is my sport; this is what I was born to do.

like, if I hadn't gotten an internship -- if things don't work themselves out university-wise -- I'm getting my hang 3 at least and moving to the coast. no joke, guys. it's already changed my life.