Prized Possession

I had a little yellow stuffed animal growing up... its name was ducky (creative, I know). I loved it so much that I brought it along to Australia with me. It had a great vacation until I left it there. Fast forward to when I'm slightly older and still mourning the loss of my ducky, ducky. My dad found it! It was lost at a family members house for years. So he brought it back with him and after ally that he forgot to shut the zipper on his suitcase. Aka I've never seen ducky again.

BFFs

One important lesson from the person I'm closest to? How about a million? My best friend has taught me so much through our friendship, it's hard to place it on one thing. But I guess if I had to choose it would be simply this: my best friend has taught me what true friendship looks like.

My best friend has taught me that true friendship is loving each other even if you're in a fight. She's taught me that true friends tell each other the things we don't want to hear aka "you have food in your teeth," "those shoes just really don't go with that outfit," "you can do so much better than your current crush". My best friend has also taught me that true friendship involves true self: true ugly laughs, true bodily functions (farting in front of each other), true crying, truth in general. True friendship involves laughing until it hurts and then forgetting why you're even laughing in the first place. She has taught me that true friendship means having a ready shoulder for me to cry on, having an open door for me to walk through, and having a pantry loaded with food for me to munch on.

Most importantly my best friend has taught me that true friendship is the closest thing to unconditional love.

Always Something There to Remind Me

Song seems to speak to me far beyond any other type of art. I guess I've always enjoyed the thought that songs are timeless. They're timeless in that some songs just make it from generation to generation. Timeless in that you can forget about a song for years and then belt every word when you hear it again. Timeless in that you can apply the lyrics to your life in any stage you're in. Some songs especially just stick with you. Basically for me, any Coldplay song brings me to a special place.

My dad and I have always been fans of Coldplay, especially they're two most recent albums Mylo Xyloto and Ghost Stories. When I hear song from these albums it automatically takes me to a time where my dad and I would just sit and analyze every feature of the song we liked: the bass, the lyrics, the meaning. We'd even sit there and research everything about the band (we may or may not be nerdy). It wasn't necessarily the act of fan grilling over the band that I liked, it was the idea that I did it with my dad. We've always had a special bond when it comes to bands we love, more specifically Coldplay and U2. So each time I hear a song, I'm reminded of how special my relationship with my dad is.

Coldplay is my go to artist to listen to when I'm on an airplane. Sometimes I find that as I fly over cities, clouds, oceans, the songs give a soundtrack to whatever I'm looking at. The songs tell a story of the little specks below that each house a person with their own thoughts, feelings, dreams, etc. Airplanes also seem to either represent happiness or sadness. Either I'm going towards something or someone I love, or I'm leaving them behind. In most cases, I'm leaving people I love behind, and that's the hardest thing. Coldplay songs are kind of my shoulder to cry on. Not just on the airplanes either, but in my bedroom or in my car, I can always relate to a Coldplay song. They remind me of hard times I got through, or road trips spent listening to them.