part 5

she had been swimming rapidly for as long as she could remember
stroke after stroke
kicking and kicking

finally, after what had been miles,
she saw land
so she swam faster and harder to the land before her
and when she got there, she realized,

this is what i have been swimming too -
all this time

it wasn't paradise, by any stretch,
but it was a new place to call home.
a new place, with a new season
she met new people and experienced new things
this land was a land of firsts.

after she had some time to process all of these changes,
and believe me, there were a lot of changes,
she began to realize something about herself.
she had a little bit of "i need to save the world" in her
and since she had started with saving herself,
she decided she wanted to save someone else.

so that was her life goal,
to save as many people as she could,
and that's how she ended up where she did.