When the Leaves Fall | ✓

q u e r e n c i a

q u e r e n c i a

(n.) a place from which one's strength is drawn, where one feels at home; the place where you are your most authentic self

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"Want to go to Dairy Queen?"

Of course you said yes.

And you don't know. There's something about soaring down the road at night, in the old pickup truck and with the windows down, with your hair blowing in your face, with some pop song you barely know the words to blasting — that's a little bit magical.

It struck you then: these are the good old days. One day you're going to look back upon your 19th year and sigh, because you will miss it. Even now, you can acknowledge that these days are simple. In these days, the little things matter — although, they're not really little.

It's the days of late night ice cream runs and mornings chugging coffee because you stayed up too late reading. It's the days of stopping in the hallways to speak to your friends and laughing at all your memories together. It's the days of enjoying the feel of the sun on your face, and the burn in your legs when you run in the evenings.

It's all about the Sunday mornings at church, and the house spent studying, and the dinners with your family arguing over Star Wars. It's about falling into bed exhausted each day and waking up to do the same thing but with little treats: like your niece shouting your name in excitement when she sees you, and your towels being freshly laundered and warm.

It's the quiet days. The peaceful days, when you're between storms and able to look around you with awe at the view of the endless expanse of life's ocean before you. You're here, in this moment, and it's so achingly beautiful and you never want to let it go and this right here is what all the poets talk about and —

It terrifies you that one day, these will be the days that you miss.