• being home alone on a sunlit afternoon
• having someone at night to snuggle up to
• sleeping in
• surviving something terrifying no worse for the ware
• boys with wavy, brown, shoulder-length hair
• warm, well lit rooms
• handwritten letters
• buying secondhand books for less than a dollar
• listening to "old time rock and roll" as I devour strawberry waffles
• old souls
• learning without the pressure to succeed
• boys that fancy me
• things that taste like fire
• feeling warm, safe, and content
• taking a deep, steadying breath
• telling stories
• magical adventures
• enjoying the cinema by myself
• doing little things that others aren't allowed to
• being seduced
• bilingual movies
• people asking me to go out for a change
• drinking lukewarm tea
• receiving things that I desperately need
• getting my new issue of nylon magazine
• conversing with strangers
• doing something nice for someone who can't reciprocate the gesture
• epic dreams
• memories
• the prospect of being beautiful
• shouting out lyrics at the top of my lungs
• the international terminal at hartsfield-jackson
• explaining how "without just one nest, a bird can call the world home"
• savoring my grandmother's scrumptious grits
• that part of childhood you just won't leave: staying up until all hours of the morning for a chance at Pottermore with my cousin, hunting for the perfect butterbeer frappuccino with Alex, or watching A Very Potter Musical a million times
• not even being blamed, so that there's nothing to forgive
• sunday afternoons spent listening to practices i don't understand
• lips weaving new worlds, completely indistinguishable from our own
• half-hearted proposals at the drop of a hat
• catching site of mistletoe
• mormon missionaries
• proper grammar
• discovering that i'm someone new
• dresses that fit just right
• finally finishing the things i start
• unexpectedly finding myself thinking in french
• museums and antiques
• boys with strong jawlines and sweet eyes
• braiding a lovely girl's hair just for the sake of it
• rainstorms in the small hours before the dawn
• not sleeping until well after the moon sets
• pretending that I'm beautiful
• and that my favorite obsession agrees
• boys that want me despite my protests
• not eating anything before tea time
• finally getting something that I've wanted for a long time
• warm baths
• the way you smile
• watching an entire season of a t.v. show in one sitting
• starting a good book
• getting something accomplished
• learning something new and worthwhile
• falling in love
• being alone
• spending time with new people
• long walks with a soundtrack
• the feeling of your arms around me
• lying
• sunrises and moonsets
• when my sister wants to be with me
• narrating my life the way it should be
• celebrating non-sensical holidays with friends just for something to do
• running away just for a time
• someone to feed me snacks on long, otherwise boring, drives

to be continued...