...for the Dweller (here's why you shouldn't)

There was this one morning.

It was maybe 4:30 at this point and I had spent the past six hours in a car full of people I barely knew.
We jumped on in, filled the car up with gas and drove down the coast on a spontaneous whim in hopes of finding something.
In hopes of finding an adventure, or maybe finding an escape for the night.

We all lay sprawled out on an abandoned lifeguard tower down south along the shores of a small beach town and the air smelled of sea salt, stale perfume and energy drinks. The conversations hit a lull as we gazed above us and stared into the unknown, so at peace with the path the night had given us.

I looked to my left and to my right and realized I would never see most of these people ever again and with that, I was filled with this overwhelming happiness.

Because although we shared dark secrets and tried to piece together what life meant at that moment, it was perfectly acceptable that we would never speak again. We shared memories spanning across those random hours in the night that are typically filled with sleep or normal routine and it meant that we had a new outlook on life, if only for that moment or possibly just for those few hours we spent alone after we parted ways.

Thinking back to that night I realize the past few days were filled with those same exact moments- pockets of joy that I may experience if only once with people I just met.
It's those moments that make up the list of a few of my very most favorite things, those things that give me the inspiration I need:

The boys who serenaded my sorority, I thank you for entertaining the idea that men are sensitive because they have good voices.
Thank you for giving me hope, even if it's encased in a hopeless romantic mindset.

The small crowd of people who cheered for me as I shouted out my number crossing the finish line as the 8th to last paddler in this weekend's race.
Thank you for reminding me that crossing the finish line is an accomplishment, no matter what place you're in.

The woman who called me lovely and the boy in the banana suit.
Thank you for showing me genuine sincerity and light hearted moments can be shared with absolutely anyone who is willing to accept them.

As a planner and a dweller and an all-around Type A, it's the moments like these that slow my world down a bit.

Where in your life can you look at a day and realize that those times of joy- those smiles in between class with someone who catches your eye or that random hail storm that sets in as you walk across campus- those moments are intended to slow your day down?

Think of things as they were, not as they weren't.

It's times like these where all you can do is appreciate what just happened and take it as it is, because somehow you became a better person through it all and the only way to explain it is by remembering it just as it was.