These Are The Days Part I

These are the days of smoking out of windows. The days of catching a train after a show, getting home at 2am, rolling into bed & going to work in the morning. These are the days of neighborhood kids whose names you don’t know dancing outside & skipping home from school. These are the days of drinking wine, singing karaoke, & friends handing you tissues. These are the days where you call your mom every day on your commute to work. These are the days where you live next to your sister & brother-in-law, days where you stop by uninvited & they come over to borrow butter or an egg, & you watch horror movies. These are the days you play games with your friends on Discord late into the night & snack on candy bars. These are the days where you work a nonprofit job that you love where you feel like you’re making an impact & you have incredible colleagues that don’t betray you or scream in your face, who like to do things like communicate & work as a team. These are the days of diving into disturbing book after book, spooking yourself into madness. These are the days of vintage Garfield, starry string lights, pops of color on millennial gray, one single yellow room. These are the days of your husband working from home in the industry he has loved since he was a little kid, filling the apartment with comics, Flash figures & wrestling collectibles. These are the days of Bubby and Boo, of loving their chaos & unruly nature because it comes with the most unconditional love. These are the days of finding a bomb ass Mexican restaurant & trying the Pho place down the street, or maybe the Pakistani spot in Lake Hiawatha? These are the days of thrifting & crochet, of painting & diy, of vintage fashion being y2k & feeling old. These are the days of appreciating the analog, a retro gaming setup in the living room equipped with a crtv. These are the days of creativity, of authenticity, of letting things go that don’t serve you. These are the days of forming healthy boundaries & learning to say no. These are the days of singing loud at concerts & paying $17 for a cocktail & shot combo. These are the days of taking a gummy & seeing a Star Wars. These are the days of discovering burgeoning artists & standing for their shows in Brooklyn venues. These are the days of having red hair & eating men like air. These are the days of protesting fascism in America. These are the days of taking long walks on the weekends & shopping at Trader Joes. These are the days of staying in hotels for work & not being able to sleep without your husband there. These are the days of preparation for the future & saving money, shopping secondhand, reading the sales, using the coupons. These are the days of elementary Spanish. These are the days of group chats with your gal pals, and lunch dates with coworkers, of vacations with your family, of trips to places you’ve been before but you’re excited to see again.