Determined Optimism, Missoula, Montana

There’s a slim chance the next line in this story is,”You’re it!” - but realistically, the ant is probably determined toward a different goal. Poor gnat.

In Catherine Marie Buchanan’s novel, The Painted Girls, the middle sister struggles with optimism for a different future. “For a tiny instant, I worried about wanting so much, about greediness, but Maman drained her bottle of absinthe, and hopelessness was the reason why.”

Hope is worth holding tight to, worth every single reminder to keep it alive in your heart, and worth dispensing without reservation.