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Leia Eloise Dow

@alderaanbabe

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🌸 Soft but vicious. 🌸
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Flying home.

Today's itinerary is Dublin to Boston to Atlanta. The Ancestral Pub Crawl. 💚 by @alderaanbabe

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4 days ago

My roommates are all grown ass adults, so tell me why it feels like I'm leaving my kids alone for the first time. 😭😭😭 by @alderaanbabe

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7 days ago

My first stint in Lisbon is coming to a close, and I find myself sitting in a tangle of emotions.

Having easy access to clean drinking water, cheap fresh produce, and accessible public transport makes this place feel like a utopia. Seeing the direct influence of colonialism in my daily life makes it feel... problematic, to say the least. Lisbon is a beautiful city, but the colorism and blatant misogyny remind me very much of the South. That being said, there are so many kind and loving people here fighting the lingering effects of Portugal's dark history. The city is full of neighborhoods with their own cultures, and each one of them is filled to the brim with stores, restaurants, and tiny parks and museums. I am so eager to return and spread kindness and joy with each day I live here. 😁💖✨ by @alderaanbabe

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11 days ago

Not dead! Started year 30 with a tomato sandwich like Granny used to make and the company of adorable kitties. by @alderaanbabe

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21 days ago

but if it all burns down
and the flames devour
everything that we are
i will hold you for the minute
yeah i'll hold you for the minute it takes. by @alderaanbabe

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2 months ago

Homesick for the golden hour at my Nana and Papa's house. The sheep (goats when I was little) in the pasture. The sun hanging low. The tall pasture grass catching the light like pieces of jewelry scattered across the field. The grasshoppers bouncing, silhouetted in front of the sunset. Laying sprawled on the back porch, listening to the bugs and birds waking up for the evening, wondering when Papa's gonna break out the ice cream after supper.

The golden hour here in Portugal is ranked one of the best sights in the world. And even my back alley courtyard looks beautiful. But it's nothing like a north Georgia sunset over your family's land. There's no place like home. 💔🍑❤️‍🩹 by @alderaanbabe

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2 months ago

Ever since I was small, I have always been compared to the talented, magnificent, imposing figure that is my mother.

We look alike. We have the same interests. We share hereditary conditions as well as complicated pasts.

Growing up in the early 2000s with a mom who was freshly postpartum was hard on her and me. Her body had changed, and she was frustrated with it. Media, social pressures, and even the federal administration at the time were all saying that thinner was healthier. She did her best not to let her own feelings negatively impact her daughters, but she was one woman trying to fight a world of outside influence.

I thought my mother was the most beautiful person in the world. I loved her soft tummy. I loved her thick, strong legs. I loved her large chest and soft arms when she pulled me in for a hug. For every negative thing she had to say about herself, I had a dozen positives.

As I stand near the precipice of 30, I think about how similar my body is to hers at this age. And I realize how incredibly lucky I am to have a second opportunity to love that same body shape all over again. To have another chance at feeling how she felt with the same hands and feet. To hold myself in a hug the way I wish I had been big enough to hold her then.

I love my soft, squishy tummy! I love my pillowy arms that give good hugs. I love my crooked smile and my early crows feet and the silver hairs already coming in. I see my body now the way I saw my mother's then- full of love. 😊 by @alderaanbabe

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2 months ago

I started reading Dungeon Crawler Carl, and our cats Cutie and Djinna are the two halves of Donut. (Cutie is high maintenance and Djinna is chaos incarnate.)

Sorry I've been away! I had to change medications and the switch has been absolutely decimating my body! 🫠 I'll post more when I'm on my feet again. 🤞✨✌️ by @alderaanbabe

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2 months ago

Yeah, it's photogenic here, but have you ever gone 6 months without a michelada, chips, and salsa?? by @alderaanbabe

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3 months ago

tfw you drunk comment on a post and suddenly you wake up to THIRTY follower requests??? Hello???

So, for the new folks, hi! I'm Leia! I am an expat from Atlanta, USA currently living in the Lisbon area. I have a boyfriend, I am polyamorous, and I am nonbinary. I post about travel, food, and navigating the world as a disabled person trying to get her college degree. ✌️✨🌞 by @alderaanbabe

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3 months ago

I'm in Leiria for my second Portuguese exam. It's going.... Well, it's going.

Tell me why going to college in your late 20s/early 30s feels like being sent off to space??? by @alderaanbabe

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3 months ago

Hi! It's Disability Pride Month, so in case you don't know me, I'm Leia! I am on the autism spectrum, and I suffer from Complex PTSD.

I have a genetic, noncommunicable disease called hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. Under that umbrella, I also have Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia. All of these in tandem sometimes trigger seizures, migraines, and chronic pain and inflammation.

I use canes and crutches to navigate the world! I use subtitles to help with auditory processing. I require AC because my body cannot regulate its temperature. I have to take twice the amount of salt and water than most humans, and I have to avoid certain foods if there's too much pollen in the air. My days involve a lot of rest (and cat cuddles). I often feel guilty about the amount of rest my body requires, but I am learning to love my body and all its flaws!

If you learn only one thing from this month, I hope it is this- all of our bodies fail us eventually. Disability is an inevitability, and we must advocate for the rights of disabled people because we too will be among them. 💖⭐✨ by @alderaanbabe

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3 months ago