This Is What I Look Like

This is what I look like: 

a family fishing trip, 

Dad making homemade bread on the first day of school, 

grilled steak for Saturday night dinner with the grandparents, 

spending a lot of time on the phone with my mom once I moved away, 

Brodie barking his head off every time someone rings the doorbell, 

my brother asking if I was finished hogging the bathroom in the morning, 

the four of us all on the big couch watching a movie together on a snowy Sunday afternoon, 

a girl's shopping trip to the mall in Albuquerque, 

heartwarming movies that we all made fun of, 

hunting for Easter eggs on a camping trip in the snow, 

a sunburn, 

deer and turkeys in the yard, 

all of us running through the airport trying to make our connecting flight, 

pretty roses I got after my dance recital, 

hauling a full load of horses up and down I-35, 

spending the night in the tornado shelter, 

reuniting with old friends, 

bringing Primo the spider plant back from the dead, 

eating the best cinnamon roll ever made on the morning of my college graduation, 

murder mystery board games, 

the floating trampoline in the pond, 

random parties in high school calculus class, 

so many field trips, 

my first day of teaching, 

spending a whole day in bed reading a book so good I couldn't put it down, 

a surprise phone call on Christmas morning, 

and so much more. 

My life is me, but my life is also my family, friends, and acquaintances. Lives entwined. 

Me, today.

*I was inspired to write this post by a paragraph in the novel I'm currently reading, "The Secrets She Keeps," by Deb Caletti.