Starmie: Starships Were Meant to Fly

I’ve got a new cross stitch piece for sale! It is available either framed or unframed on Etsy.

Hands up and touch the sky.

Story Time!

I first got into Nicki’s work during the Pink Friday era. If you were a young woman between 2010-2015, as I was, it is fairly likely that one or more Nicki Minaj tracks were of great importance to you.

In particular, “Moment 4 Life” and “Super Bass” hold strong memories for me of my post-high school, early college days in 2010-2011, when I was always hanging out with my friends, smoking hookah, visiting the beach, clubbing. The club we frequently was called The Pearl — a small, 18+ club in my hometown, always dark and kinda dingy, always projecting some anime or movie onto the wall. In the middle of the venue was this huge oak tree covered in fairy lights. I can’t remember if the tree was real, left intact while the building popped up around it, or whether it was fake. My boyfriend, our friends, and I would recreationally misuse someone’s Adderall prescription and drive across the Matthews Bridge into Springfield for a night out there. I remember it being hot and crowded with people, everybody dancing and sweating. I remember getting drinks spilled on my favorite little suede boots. I remember scheming to get alcohol from the bar even though my whole friend group was marked with the “under 21” wristbands. I remember all of us sitting out back on the patio and running into people from high school that were excited to see us.

My boyfriend and I really enjoyed dancing when we went out. There are a few songs that bring forth the memories of those nights: I Wanna Dance with Somebody by Whitney Houston; Moment 4 Life by Nicki Minaj; and Home by  by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros. I remember dancing close with my boyfriend, overflowing with love with him; I remember thinking that “Home” could be the song we’d dance to at our wedding. We were always meeting people there and chatting — friends, strangers, the bouncer, some guy. Someone was always taking pictures that ended up on Facebook. We’d go home late, stay up late, sleep in late.

Anyway, this piece features a line from Starships, which was released a few years later in 2012. By that time, my high school boyfriend and I had broken up and I was in a completely different phase of my life. Starships contributed to that new feeling of independence and the euphoria of the endless possibilities that lay before me.

The time period between 2012-2013 was a big transitional period for me. I had dated my high school boyfriend for four and a half years — an entire epoch of my young life. I had imagined us getting married and having kids. I had gone to the university in my hometown to stay close to him, instead of going to the university most of my friends were attending. But, we ended our relationship in August of 2012 and I graduated college the following December, in 2013. I spent time with an entirely different group of friends. I lived on the other side of town. I dated this older guy who was not right for me at all.

Looking back, it feels strange that I can sum up that part of my life in just a few paragraphs. It felt so monumental then, so grandiose and special to be experiencing it. I wonder if all young people feel a similar sort of feeling?

Cross-stitch wall in my very first apartment in 2015. I purchased this incredible grandma couch off Craigslist for like $50. Sometimes I still miss it.

I’m not sure how or when Starmie and Starships were paired, but this piece came together in about 2015 or 2016. By that time, I had moved away from home and was living in Atlanta, Georgia. The time in my life where the song Starships meant the most to me had passed. But, I really loved and still love water Pokémon — and I’ve always thought that Starmie’s design is super pretty. So, it’s no surprise that the song came to mind when considering what phrase or lyric might be paired with her.

My cross-stitch collection grew and I carried it from place to place as we moved. In 2018, we purchased our first home. In 2021, we moved from Atlanta to Houston.

At our house in Marietta, Georgia in about 2019. I put it in my bedroom this time, so I could stare at my wall every morning.

Now, it’s 2023 and it’s come time to say goodbye to Starmie, and a few other pieces that were very important during this previous era. My life looks a lot different now than it did back in 2015: I’m settled down now, in my own home, in my career, in my relationship. I’ve found a place where I’m comfortable and happy. And, most importantly, I’m kind of past those days where I’m preoccupied with the wildness of my independence and the expanse of possibilities before me. I’ve found a place where I fit, and that’s enough.

Goodbye, Starmie! ♡

I hope that I can find a nice home for Starmie. The love and intention stitched into her is still there, but it’s time for her to fly away — to be with someone else, someone who needs her more than I do.

My current cross-stitch wall at my home in Houston.

See ya, space cowboy.