Holly Pelesky

remember when you read this to me

you get it

great american road trip, day 15. cheyenne, wy > kearney, ne. 315 miles. final stop before home

replenish, we know just where joy lurks. we keep showing each other, again and again.

keep doing this. we will always find the sky, the forest, the water together. we always keep, as the song says, our sense of wonder. we allow each other that. every earnest thought and romantic phrase.

tomorrow we’ll get home. chores, jobs, parenting resume. we’ll find joy there too. we can always

as we walked, he pulled me into himself, told me to promise him we’d never stop doing shit like this when we’re old and have been married for years.

shit like what? i asked, watch the sky? of course we won’t. we won’t stop doing this because we’re getting married, we’re getting married so we can

on the final night of our road trip, we walked to the platte river to watch the sandhill cranes settle for the evening. they like the sandbars because they’re a safe place to land, i said, thinking of all the predators that can’t reach them there

When you support indie presses, you keep art and writing made by people alive. You make it possible for voices to exist outside the mainstream. You support real people who are going to work everyday and creating when they can (usually by sleeping less).

i hear him laughing from the bathroom.

what? i ask

you’re really gonna love these towels he says to his fiancée who has very particular sensory opinions

i love historic hotels so much. glad you got that experience

oh shit, i said to him after two weeks of sampling local coffee shops, we’re returning to scooters country

great american road trip, days 13-14. rock springs, wy > cheyenne, wy

to be fair it’s 20 something girls fawning over aarik again but i guess it still counts

i never had cable. do you think that’s why i’m like this?

i’m just sitting here across from him thinking how the hell did i get the perfect man

have a partner i want to commit myself to, coparent with, read to, cook for, make art w/. i guess i’m saying people can change their minds and isn’t that what makes humanity so beautiful & fascinating? happy to spend my best years with my best friend—i’ll be the most nontrad wife possible, i promise

there are so many ways to make a life. one way isn’t more virtuous or impressive than another. i’ve never been one of those girls who dreamed of her wedding, but i’ve always been a sappy romantic. when i first got divorced eight years ago, i never thought i’d marry again but now i’m so glad to

if i’m honest i’ve always kinda dreaded cohabitation before. i am a fiercely independent woman and have made life on my own many times over. sometimes it has felt like a failure of independence to do it with someone else. but i’ve done a lot of therapy and balanced my meds and i have learned that

any way in wyoming we stopped and saw a friend of mine at the university, then went and got some art at a gallery. he scheduled a u-haul, i called my mortgage guy. we’re really doing this life together thing hook line and sinker and i’ve never been this excited about merging assets and plans

going home to sell my house and return to work and aarik and i are really dragging our feet on getting back. the last few days we’re doing like 180 miles a day lol. as soon as it’s 4p and we can turn in somewhere for the night we’re checking in

they’ll appreciate us one day i swear

on the 13th day of road trip, my true love gave to me a promise to love me forever

great american road trip, days 12-13:
twin falls, id > salt lake city, ut

i’m 43 today and i’ve learned by now to stop hiding from who i am. i love to read and eat and hike and lie down, i get overwhelmed by noise and constantly being asked questions. i have the love of a few children and a good man. i did a lot of things wrong on my first try, but luckily, we get another

(because he has an encyclopedic brain)

earlier today i was driving and asked aarik for a kleenex but he thought he threw them away so i blew my nose with a maxi pad and then we found an unopened box of kleenex

made it to SLC, dodged a new puppy (but only bc i’m holding out for one of my daughter’s dog’s puppies), he has a tattoo appointment, we found his phone, and now we gorge ourselves on carbs

you guys. so we’re just leaving idaho and we pass a kid holding up a puppies for sale sign and i know it’s not practical but these fucking faces