Today my mom said:

"Have you noticed a difference in the house since you've taken all of your paintings down?"

"Yeah… It feels empty."

"And what about the house?"

"What do you mean?"

"What's the house doing?"

"Mom, just get to the metaphor already."

"Even though the paintings are down, the house is still sturdy and standing."

"Okay…."

"It's you. The paintings are your presence, and the house is everyone you affect in life. Sure you if you cut off relations, or end your existence entirely, the people will still stand. But they'll be much emptier. I know you think you have no affect on people, and that you're invisible, or that no one really cares about whether you're in their lives or not, but that's just not true. It's okay to take up space, it's okay to exist. You affect people, and if you take yourself out of their lives, that's just going to leave them with a feeling of emptiness."

And I think that's the deepest and most understanding thing mom has ever said to me.

I'm going to get the outline of a heart tattooed on my left index knuckle for many a reason:

1. The quote, "The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return."
2. To remind myself that I am in fact loved. Not just by a boy, but family and friends.
3. To remind myself to love myself as well.
4. The obvious, "follow your heart"
5. And to remember what mom said to me today. It's not going to be filled in to remind me of the space I would leave in people's lives if I weren't here.

- Mint.