The Things I Love
Twenty one years ago at age 14, I won a California State writing competition with a piece called "The Things I Love." Okay, it was second place. It was a two page, single-spaced, three sentence work of honesty. I'm repeating it here for the hell of it. Here's to the next 21 years.I love snuggling up in my mocha leather chair with this overheated laptop on my lap, living a modest, comfortable life in the heart of San Francisco. I love the freedom to embrace my partner publicly and be not only accepted but welcomed and appreciated for more than what I do in the bedroom. I love Thursday night dinners with our group of friends, traveling to Oakland by BART and walking through a seedy neighborhood to get to the posh Jack London Square where we kick it with homemade pizza and yummy chicken burritos. I love reading good books. Well written books where the language takes you effortlessly through a story and is as much a featured player as the plot. I love the movies, complete with a pre-event stop to Walgreens to pick up chocolate covered Pretzel Bites, stuffed in my gym bag containing clothes I haven't used in two years, carrying the extra nine pounds to prove it. I love my American Express card too much. So much that I once cut it up to get control. Too soon, or too late, given that it was near expiration and I soon got my newly minted shiny this-one-should-last-ya-another-good-two-years-of-overspending satan-inspired goldness. I love that it's still gold, though, and not black or clear, god forbid. I don't know what those colors mean except that you can spend more and pay more annually.
I love words like caveat, matriculate, conundrum, and masticate. They remind me of the day I first heard them. Not in sixth grade english class where I aced vocabulary tests then promptly forgot my new ten words of the day. But when I really heard them for the first time and they stuck. I secretly love motivational quotes like the one on my computer desktop: "When you are content to be simply yourself and don't compare or compete, everybody will respect you," - Lao Tzu. I should know who Lao Tzu is after my trip through Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tokyo, and more last summer. But I don't. Is an Internet search far off? And I love that it took 35 years to conclude through a simple quote what my father tried to tell me all along.
posted by Jay @ 8:51 PM
1 Comments:
I will forever think of you when I hear or use the word caveat. It will always make me smile:-)!
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