Friday night, I danced to survive. During the past week I'd gone to the dark places, scraped up some pretty heavy emotional baggage and brought it to the surface. But I had to honor it's existance. I had to honor the fact that I had the freedom to feel what I did.

What a gift that I can feel this loss, that I am not numb. Though I still miss the presence of that part of me I loved so strongly for a time, I am grateful for what I had.

I don't want to mourn. I want to be able to dance through the people that come in and go out of my life. I want to dance with the gifts they bring and the gifts left in their wake when they need to take a different path.

I danced for myself, and for no one else. And so I have survived.