Wednesday, October 9, 2013

One after 21 and one before 23

I turned 22 today. 
TWENTY-TWO. 
11 + 11. 
1, 2, 3, 4, 
5, 6, 7, 
8, 9, 10, 
11, 12, 13, 
14, 15, 16, 17, 
18, 19, 20, 21, 22.
Twenty plus 2. 
Two x two x two x two + 6. 
Three weeks and a day. 
A palindrome!
21 is a thing of the past.
Today marks...
22 years of smelling the roses.
8,030 days of laughing until you cry.
192,720 hours of living life to the fullest. 
693,792,000 seconds of embracing each moment.
It's been a "Pollock" painting from the start: numerous colors, brights, darks, swirls, zig-zags, splotches, thin lines, thick lines, no clear direction. 
It has certainly taught me to look before I jump, think before I speak, laugh before I cry, try before I deny, question before I silence, walk before I run, skip before I leap, give before I take. 
I can't say I've arrived here unscathed. I can't say I've landed here with my compass pointing North. I can't say that I'm here and I know where I'm going. 
HOWEVER, there are a number of things I CAN say (22, actually). ;) 
1 I have a closet addiction to national/state parks.
2 I hate yogurt; it's TOO slimy!
3 I want to save all the manatees in the world from propellers and careless people.
4 I am part fish.
5 I love movies. 
6 I take Epsom salt baths when I need to relax.
7 I am obsessed with cook books. 
8 I have a tendency to use sticky notes for EVERYTHING.
9 I like to drive without a destination.
10 People in costumes freak me out.
11 I absolutely love my blood relatives.
12 I adore my internet family.
13 I cherish my dear friends.
14 I think of going to the zoo as a form of therapy.
15 Typing quickly makes me giggle.
16 I have grown extremely fond of homemade chicken soup.
17 I don't like roller coasters.
18 I have always had a funny relationship with sand: it's too clingy.
19 I could never own too many blankets. 
20 I want to go to the Galapagos Islands more than anything in the world.
21I love to exercise (SWIMMING, in particular).
22 Books are the key to my heart.
 
There are a lot of things I don't know, but I know these & I just have to remind myself of that whenever there's a cloud above my head that refuses to move along. 
   
My health is aggressively challenging my positivity right now but I've got secret weapons. I've got secret stashes of goodness I can dip into whenever I'm feeling low on giddiness. 
I've made it 22 years on this beautiful planet with only one goal in mind. To BE. Regardless of the Lyme, I'm going to continue to BE me. 
I don't plan on stopping no matter how many bugs have decided to inhabit my system. ;) 
NOW, it's time to party like a TRUE SCDer & cook some chicken. 
Until next time, stay happy my darling readers. You're one of the reasons I smile every day & I hope you're grinning like a goof yourself. 
LOTS AND LOTS OF LOVE,
Allie