• being home alone on a sunlit afternoon
• someone at night to snuggle up to
• sleeping in
• surviving something terrifying no worse for the wear
• 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
• 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 quit
  • staying up until all hours with my cousin for a chance at Pottermore
  • hunting for the perfect butterbeer frappuccino
  • or watching A Very Potter Musical yet again
• 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 sight 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
• the prospect of being beautiful
• and pretending my favorite obsession agrees
• 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
• 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
• holding non-sensical holidays with friends
• running away just for a time
• someone who feeds me snacks on long, otherwise boring, drives
• hearing my name whispered reverently in the dark
• painting out the constellations
• muttering my prayers to the moon
• reciting poetry when there's nothing else to do
• especially when someone will listen to the poems too
• delicate french pastries like petit fours and macarons
• taking hundreds of pictures with a willing model
• moleskins full of scribbled prose and half-ass portraits
• by chance hearing people speak kindly of things i fancy
• that first sight of the atlanta skyline driving on I-85
• the simple convenience of t-money cards (i miss it)
• waking up to a pretty face and nice hair
• people who actually care
• honey milk bubble tea
• losing weight (so that my parents won't yell at me)
• letting go of everything
• and the weightless feeling that it brings
• a really good cup of coffee
• living someone else's life for a ways
• couch surfing
• my infallible liver and the adventures it brings

to be continued...