Wanderlust

I happily stress myself out trying to cram half my entire life into a suitcase after midnight. Who cares if I have to be awake in two hours to catch a flight?

Five pounds over, that's an extra 100 bucks! I knew it was too heavy! I could kick my own a-

Hallelujah! The baggage handler is a fellow black chick! I'm gonna get a pass!

The flight attendant wouldn't let me bring my edibles on board. And Karen's baby won't stop screaming, dear Lord.

Not to mention, my booty is about three times the size of this seat and the old man squeezed in next to me low key smells like feet.

Turbulence that gives me the bubble guts, spilled drinks in my lap. Who in their right mind actually wants to put up with this crap!?

You'd think that after the amount of times I've been felt up by TSA I'd never again want to step foot outside my door.

But like that loser ex-boyfriend with the cliché tattoos, I can't help but go back for more.

Eventually I drown out the madness, and remember exactly what all this is for.

It's for leaning my head back getting lost in the lush clouds and baby blue sky. Just like that, I've become an angel, and I'm very much alive.

It's for standing on top of the Sao Gorge castle in Lisbon, taking in that seductive view and feeling like the queen of them all. Though oddly at the same time, being swallowed whole by all that immaculate beauty, I'd never felt so small.

It's for wandering the cobbled streets of Madrid, pondering the meaning of life. Only to find I knew what it was all along. Tapas, rioja and a chisel faced guitar player named Juan.

It's for taking over Miami like I own the place. Be it Lummus Park or Ultra, feel free to feast your eyes on the breathtaking sight of me throwing my "yes I'm a chubby girl in booty shorts and a bikini top" attitude all in your face!

It's for dancing to hot drum beats in my motherland, in Guinea. My blackness and my thickness are symbols of beauty here! I can eat all the fufu I want! I ain't gotta be skinny!

It's for challenging my bougee self to get a little dirty and hike through a rainforest in the Caribbean. No worries baby girl, you'll be rewarded with a white sand beach, mojitos and hot shirtless men.

It's for every new place and every new face, willingly losing myself in time and space.

It's for realizing that the more I explore, wander and roam, the more I AM...home.