Things I Love

1. I love the way the sun feels on my skin when I'm cold

Spring approaches. We are officially six months from Thanksgiving, the day we set aside every year as a period of retrospect and thankfulness. Still, the abundance of gifts that exist in our lives yield for no season, warm nor cold. Therefore, today I set before you a list of the things in my life I am thankful for: a list of things that I love.

2. I love writing. I love reading it and creating it and soaking it in my pores.

Literature has shaped me into the person I am today. The people and places and things in my life have all had lasting impacts, but no one medium has so influenced me as writing and literature. I love observing it, learning from it, building it and sculpting and shaping it. In return, writing has built, sculpted, and shaped me in incomparable ways.

3. I love music.

An extension of the first. Music can make people feel. It’s universal. It has power that can’t be described.

4. I love the way my friends look under Mississippi sun.

5. I love my mom and dad. I love my sister.

6. I love wearing white. I love oversized sunglasses. I love indulgence and buying things and I hate that I love it.

Here’s the superficial side of the story. I would be a liar if i stood before you and told you I didn't receive at least a small fleck of happiness whenever I buy something . I know it’s not the best thing to love, but I can’t help it, so the least I can do is be thankful for it.

7. I love the way eyelashes feel when someone blinks on your cheek.

Try it. It’s great.

8) I love Hannah and Audrey and Rebecca and Haley and Rachel and Maddie and Anna and Rebecca Robinson and Marla and Elizabeth.

Thank you for being my best friends. I love you all too the moon and back.

9. I love the way getting an A paper feels

Another potentially superficial one, but I can’t ignore the sense of pride and accomplishment gained from achieving in school. I know the school system is flawed, I know that grades are becoming an overwhelming stressor in children lives, and I know it would be fair to say in this day and age merely attending school has side effects unbeknownst to the students of yesteryear. Additionally, I know it feels damn good getting an A.

10. I love when my hair is straight. I love fresh flowers. I love the way diamonds look under artificial lighting. I love city lights.I love billowing curtains on Sunday morning.

Every once and while you’ll come across something truly stunning. Appreciate the beauty in it, and in the world. It’s not too often we get to see it.

A lot of the time it’s hard to be thankful. For me, right now, in this moment, it’s not. I choose to take advantage of that, and use this opportunity to shout out those people and things that I love, and too say how truly thankful I am for them. Moreover, I hope as this six month-anniversary of thanksgiving approaches, we all can set aside some time to say thank you.

Thank you.