1:24 a.m. All Things Ordinary

It’s almost my birthday, and while I am excited to be “young and sweet, only seventeen” and to meet new people, experience new experiences, and grow, there are many things I will miss. Recently, I’ve found that often in the eagerness and anticipation of the future, I neglect to look around and see the beauty of the things already around me. Many of these things have already passed, and I find that the things I’ve missed the most are the things that are most “ordinary”.

So, here’s a list I’ve compiled of things I’ve been missing lately. 

1. Using the kids’ cart at Whole Foods

Even now, one of my least favorite chores to do is buying groceries. It’s a tedious process for a lazy person- having to dress, get out of the house, bag the items, and get back to the house. However, since third grade, I have been able to experience some growth. Little me absolutely abhorred the grocery market. It was a daunting task, one inevitably filled with pain, boredom, and tire. We don’t often go to that Whole Foods anymore. Last week, we drove past Whole Foods and I caught sight of the once-dreaded little green kids’ carts. Pavlov would say that I should have likely been filled with a sense of boredom; however, I wasn’t. I felt a sense of longing. I wished that I could once again be small and carefree, believing that the worst thing in the world was broccoli.

1. Shopping for my mom’s makeup at Sephora

  My mama has always been beautiful: big, doe-like, brown eyes and the sweetest type of lips- the ones filled with smiles and kind words. I remember when I was young, we would often go to our local Sephora, where she would spend an hour looking through bottles of foundation, lines of eyeshadow, and armies of eyeliner. To keep me busy, she would let me try the different lipsticks on my arm and give me the tester Q-tips to play with. Nowadays, she shops online through the wonder of globalization and the internet. While I do love the glory of the internet and all the efficiency and convenience it brings, I miss the days when my mom and I would go out for every little thing- the days when we would spend every minute together.

1. Picking up sandwiches at Which Wich

I was a late starter at a lot of things. One of these is biking, which I only learned how to do in fifth grade. Another is swimming, which I learned in fourth grade. While I loved my swim teacher and the lessons, what I loved most was after the lesson. My mama would drive me and my brother across the street to a Which Wich. I always ordered ham, cheese, and mayonnaise. There is something incredibly satisfying about eating a cold sandwich out of a paper bag while still being wet and sticky from chlorine water and being half asleep after just using up all my energy.

I miss going to MOD Pizza every day after school; I miss having my hair done every morning; I miss my mom picking me up in school every day; I miss being able to go to sleep at 8:30 every day; I miss having read-alouds. I have a whole list of things I want to remember as I move on to being seventeen, but one of the main things is to appreciate everything- even the things I find annoying. While I have graduated kids’ carts, I still dread shopping. I’m annoyed with going to school every day. I’m always stressed about my school life and grades. However, I can also say that I won’t be able to shop with my mom forever, so I should appreciate it now. I’m lucky to be a student now- I don’t have to pay rent, feed myself, or worry about being homeless. I’m incredibly lucky to be able to count my main stress as academics.

So, here’s to another year.

Cheers,

emma