1. Worms on the pavement after it rains. I always forget just how many worms there are in the ground beneath us until they all turn up on the pavement in the hours after the raindrops have stopped falling. Makes me wonder what else I’ve forgotten about and what phenomenon will bring the memories rushing back.
2. When you’re driving on the highway and it’s pouring rain and you go under a bridge and for a split second the rain stops. It’s the unnaturalness of the interrupted constant pattering of the rain that makes the silence so unique. The world stops for a fraction of a second, but continues on as if nothing happened until the next bridge.
3. Libraries. Surrounded by the coziness that only books can bring, feeling slightly small among the tall shelves, a soft silence disturbed only by the hush of quiet voices, and the knowledge that everyone in the building loves books just as much as I do. It’s amazing to me how one room can hold hundreds of worlds between the lines. I like to look at the involuntary faces people make while immersing themselves in these worlds. I like the endless possibilities of books that could change my life, just simply sitting on a shelf for me to find. I like that each book represents months or years of a person’s hard work and passion, I like that I stand in a room full of individual successes. I hope to feel that success one day.
4. The way little kids look when they’re forcing themselves to walk instead of run when they’re at the pool. The immense concentration it takes to keep their feet from moving too fast makes me smile. It’s the embodiment of being so excited for something that the few seconds you’d gain from getting there that much faster by running instead of walking are worth it because you’re just so excited.
5. Dogs walking backwards. Their whole torso wiggles from side to side, and it’s just so funny! Especially when my dog does it. Things that come so naturally to us look quite silly when a dog does it. This among other things.
6. When I’m copying a text by hand and I write it in less lines than the typed version. It’s the little successes in life.
7. When my dog dives into a pool. She sprints, leaps, and nosedives into the water. It’s adorable! Sometimes reminds me of a seal when she pokes her nose up from underwater.
8. The stomach drop feeling. You know the one. The moment the roller coaster drops. When you lean all the way back on a swing on the way up. You’re absolutely terrified. And you could not be more excited about it. I associate it with the feeling of being alive.
9. Outdoor showers. Something about showering in the natural, open air makes me feel cleaner. How it feels slightly unnatural to be showering outside, but only because you don’t normally do it. Makes me wonder about what other mundane things would be a lot more exciting if I did them somewhere other than where I always do.
10. Wildflowers. Not ones you can buy from a florist for forty five dollars. The ones that grow in a patch of soil between highways, or in valleys where people don’t go too often. Vibrant splashes of color next to concrete, pavement, metal cars, exhaust fumes, broken tires, crushed cans. Stumbling upon something so beautifully out of place.
11. When you’re on a loop hike and all of the sudden you get to the end of the loop and you’re back to where you started and everything is familiar but just a second ago you had no idea where you were. For all of you who aren’t directionally challenged, you may not have experienced this one, but let me tell you, the feeling of everything making sense after miles of new discoveries and unfamiliarity is quite relieving.
12. Greenhouses. This goes along with plants, but greenhouses are a little better because there are so many plants there, and it smells fresh and the air is crisp and they’re always warm no matter what season it is outside, and it’s really, really hard for plants to die in there. It’s the perfect habitat for not only surviving, but thriving. I wonder where mine is.
13. The feeling of going under a wave for the first time in the summer. The wetness is different from submerging yourself in the bathtub or jumping into a pool. You’re completely engulfed, and the wave pushes towards shore while you push towards the horizon, and when you come up for air and breathe in the salt, you know summer is here.
2. When you’re driving on the highway and it’s pouring rain and you go under a bridge and for a split second the rain stops. It’s the unnaturalness of the interrupted constant pattering of the rain that makes the silence so unique. The world stops for a fraction of a second, but continues on as if nothing happened until the next bridge.
3. Libraries. Surrounded by the coziness that only books can bring, feeling slightly small among the tall shelves, a soft silence disturbed only by the hush of quiet voices, and the knowledge that everyone in the building loves books just as much as I do. It’s amazing to me how one room can hold hundreds of worlds between the lines. I like to look at the involuntary faces people make while immersing themselves in these worlds. I like the endless possibilities of books that could change my life, just simply sitting on a shelf for me to find. I like that each book represents months or years of a person’s hard work and passion, I like that I stand in a room full of individual successes. I hope to feel that success one day.
4. The way little kids look when they’re forcing themselves to walk instead of run when they’re at the pool. The immense concentration it takes to keep their feet from moving too fast makes me smile. It’s the embodiment of being so excited for something that the few seconds you’d gain from getting there that much faster by running instead of walking are worth it because you’re just so excited.
5. Dogs walking backwards. Their whole torso wiggles from side to side, and it’s just so funny! Especially when my dog does it. Things that come so naturally to us look quite silly when a dog does it. This among other things.
6. When I’m copying a text by hand and I write it in less lines than the typed version. It’s the little successes in life.
7. When my dog dives into a pool. She sprints, leaps, and nosedives into the water. It’s adorable! Sometimes reminds me of a seal when she pokes her nose up from underwater.
8. The stomach drop feeling. You know the one. The moment the roller coaster drops. When you lean all the way back on a swing on the way up. You’re absolutely terrified. And you could not be more excited about it. I associate it with the feeling of being alive.
9. Outdoor showers. Something about showering in the natural, open air makes me feel cleaner. How it feels slightly unnatural to be showering outside, but only because you don’t normally do it. Makes me wonder about what other mundane things would be a lot more exciting if I did them somewhere other than where I always do.
10. Wildflowers. Not ones you can buy from a florist for forty five dollars. The ones that grow in a patch of soil between highways, or in valleys where people don’t go too often. Vibrant splashes of color next to concrete, pavement, metal cars, exhaust fumes, broken tires, crushed cans. Stumbling upon something so beautifully out of place.
11. When you’re on a loop hike and all of the sudden you get to the end of the loop and you’re back to where you started and everything is familiar but just a second ago you had no idea where you were. For all of you who aren’t directionally challenged, you may not have experienced this one, but let me tell you, the feeling of everything making sense after miles of new discoveries and unfamiliarity is quite relieving.
12. Greenhouses. This goes along with plants, but greenhouses are a little better because there are so many plants there, and it smells fresh and the air is crisp and they’re always warm no matter what season it is outside, and it’s really, really hard for plants to die in there. It’s the perfect habitat for not only surviving, but thriving. I wonder where mine is.
13. The feeling of going under a wave for the first time in the summer. The wetness is different from submerging yourself in the bathtub or jumping into a pool. You’re completely engulfed, and the wave pushes towards shore while you push towards the horizon, and when you come up for air and breathe in the salt, you know summer is here.