Open Book and Wine Stains

    I believe in fairies! I believe in fairies! I BELIEVE in fairies!      Actually though, I was pretty convinced I was going to turn into a dragon until I was 12. Like- I seriously thought my veins were scales and my shoulder pains were wings growing in. This all stemmed from a love of fantasy that goes back as long as I can remember. I think a lot of it came from my Granny.      Joanne Lynagh was magical. At her funeral, all 9 grandchildren talked about the day they realized they were actually related to her. I was sure she was the Queen of all Mythical Creatures (still might be) . O n my day, I figured out that that made me a princess! I was pretty sure that also meant I got to become a dragon. Granny used to take me fairy hunting at her house in the North Carolina mountains. She would read to me about all of the mischief the fairies got into, and then we'd be off- looking for circles of mushrooms or fairy houses. She was also the first to ge...

It's 2015: I'm 17 and it's my senior year of high school. I am so excited to move half way across the country, I just don't know to which side yet.      I had applied to several colleges for music, and it was finally time to go for my in person auditions. First up was my audition for USCalifornia. (Ironic because I had also applied to USCarolina due to in-state backup etc- which was very confusing for my guidance counselor and everyone else) This was my first time in California and my dad, having lived there for a period of time, was ready to show me LA. The first thing we noticed was that the GPS had a whole new shade of red for traffic. (Having grown up half in Atlanta, I found this particularly shocking) We drove through Beverly Hills  (while we blasted the  song obviously),  ate fancy dinners, and saw the sun set over the Pacific. But the thing he was the most excited to show me was Venice Beach. He knew I would love how everyone didn't seem to have a c...

When I was a kid, adjectives used to describe me were often prefaced with “too.” But my favorite words ended in “er.” I distinctly remember declaring myself “Sammy longer-faster-higher (and what other adverb I was currently feeling) Lynagh.” I wanted to experience everything! I wanted to swing so well that I flipped right over the swing set. I wanted to sing the highest note so loud that I was the only one who had to sing it. I wanted to write a novel, train my dog in agility courses, and start a chalk-art based annual charity event. I wanted to do it all. **I still do.      The funny thing I’ve noticed is that we all commend and idolize those individuals who have done incredible things, but when the people around us want to do these things- we recoil. I’ve come up with a theory: we don’t want to see those close to us go above and beyond because then we will have to question why we don’t ourselves. That’s why we fawn over people who have hiked the Appalachian Trail, bu...