Anne Frank House

So, I've kinda decided to forego the formal list and just go off of what I know inside of me I've wanted to accomplish.
Although, I do believe this one is on the (or some) list (somewhere.)

I had really wanted to see Anne's tree, but sadly it was blown down in 2010.
I still have had a burning in me to see her house. The hideout where she and her family and others stowed away in attempts to avoid the mass murder their people were undergoing.

I feel a connection to Anne that I can't explain. I have tried my darndest to make it make sense, but it just doesn't. I had been waiting to consider going to Amsterdam. I had mad excuses. I had pushed the burning away and reasoned with myself on why reality wouldn't let me.

Well this year, I threw all that out the window.
I'm going to Amsterdam.
I have enlisted a friend to go with me, so it'll be less scary flying to Europe.

I don't think the time we'll have in the house will be enough.
I want to soak it in. I want to stare at the walls she stared at. I want to burn this into my brain and let it saturate my being and make it's way down in to my heart to hopefully fill this hole that has been crying for some sort of familiarity I hope to find there.
From what I hear, photography isn't allowed. I want to respect this, but I also want so desperately to have a piece of this to take home with me, to help me.

I wish I could be in there alone. I was reluctant to bring anyone with me, because this is so personal to me. Yes, I know it's personal to tons of people, but then there's the people it's not. And this is just mine. It's other people's as well, but it's also mine. Like there was an internal torch she passed on and it somehow ended up in my hands.

The friend I enlisted is one of the people who could come closest to understanding what this trip means to me. It's killing me that I have to wait 325 days still, but the hope that fills my heart helps keep the longing at bay.

Seriously, I'm sure I sound ridiculous in this post. But I don't care.
This is better than riding an elephant, and that item on the list is pretty big.
This is making what was seemingly impossible, possible.

Before I realized this trip was plausible, I saw The Fault in Our Stars.
Knowing they did a bit of the filming there helped me calm myself down.
"Even if I never get to go, I can say I was taken there through this movie."
That movie gave me something most people can't.
This is my ending to An Imperial Affliction.
I have to do this. I have to go to Amsterdam.

325 days.
I already don't want it to end.