19

Started breathing at six am on a Tuesday.

Crawled and babbled to no one and everyone.

Newfound power of communication.

A chef using plastic ingredients with a touch of velcro.

A master lego architect laboring for hours on end.

Lost in fantastical worlds and department stores.

Battle scars from shenanigans on the playground.

Internalized love for the winter atmosphere.

In awe at the power of money.

Swore lifelong sobriety.

Everything was a secret competition.

Self-declared wallflower.

A fear of vulnerability masked by rebellion.

At the bottom of another hierarchy established by movie tropes.

Student-athlete: Science-tennis.

Denied toxicity from those I trusted.

Set bridges ablaze and carefully built new ones.

Dissolved awkwardness in a solution of proximity.

Planted confidence and predicting fruit.