Dreaming in Brighton

An Ode to Anna

Nineteen seems to be one of those decidedly in-between ages. It's hard to decipher whether you're coming or going, with changes of location and surroundings being prominent factors. The past year saw me pack up my life in London, exchanging the hectic drum of city life for the slightly more sedated shores of Brighton's seaside town. A year on, having witnessed as they completed everything from travels across India to Art foundations I get to watch as a greater proportion of my friends become scattered around the country. There is a heightened sense of longing as I observe the distance between us increase. Somewhere along the line a feeling of mourning has established itself in the pit of my stomach, as if the reality of letting go of those years spent a walk away from my favourite people has come into fruition. This seems a strange fate, due to the fact that a year has passed since I made the similar move of bidding farewell to my home in favour of new adventures. Then there are the other emotions - of anticipation and excitement. Throwing caution to the wind and stepping out into the unknown. I could never have predicted the kind of paths I would be led down through straying from London, though in hindsight they appear small there is no doubt of their altering capabilities. I share in that anticipation now, as I regard some of the best people I have had the pleasure of knowing make the same branch off into a world of their choosing. This, then is for them. With four people particularly in mind, this is an indication of my faith in their endeavours. May they enter into their new lives with the assurance that their presence, for me, has been both humbling and necessary during the tumultuous years of my teenage life. The journeys that they are about to embark upon are going to be made all the more wonderful by the beauty that they continue to carry with them and dazzle others with. May the next year bring them new levels of joy, creativity and success. At the end of it all I will be sitting on that same red sofa waiting to hear of your adventures and pretend that no time has passed at all.