everything is everything

in the house i grew up in, we had a library where we watched tv instead of reading. the shelves were lined with books, but the chairs were worn by the amount of time we spent in there watching movies and music videos and television shows. there were paintings of hunting scenes and my dad's chair that he always smoked in every night after work. the library opened into what we called both the den and dad's office. it was basically another sunroom, like the one on the opposite side of the house. its where the music was. my dad's record collection and his CD collection piled up in the cabinets of the library and i spent hours in the den, dancing around to michael jackson, bruce springsteen, and my favorite at the time, whitney houston. it was the first CD my father bought and I played track 1 over and over again. i danced and did handstands and sang along. i used to run and do flips over the couch and imagine massive heartbreaks and reconciliations in that room. i had my first kiss in the powder room during my 5th grade birthday party, which was of course a dance party where my brother had agreed to DJ. so, here is to being in elementary school and learning how fun it is to be by yourself with a good tune.