...In which our heroine appreciates the little things.

I just got finished talking to my friend Leslie, who I became close with sophomore year, when she was a senior. I haven't seen her since the night she graduated but the past three years, she has made the effort to talk to me about our mutual love of the Oscars. It's amazing how little it takes to make my day - couple of minutes complaining about Hugh Jackman and comparing best dressed, and it's like I'm still sitting in the newspaper room, chatting with Leslie. 

More and more, I realize it truly is the little things that count. My dad has always told me a good way to live is simply "one good deed a day" and that really is all it takes.  The subtlest gestures are what matter the most. 

Some days, the distance that has grown between me and my friends and family feels enormous. Once someone is out of your day to day life, I at least find it difficult to keep tabs. I try to keep up with the people from high school that I still care for, but a lot of times, it's hard to talk once you get past the "How's college?" question. And I find that my true friends are the ones who I can skip the stock bullshit and get right back to it.

Watching the Oscars (an aside: boring, predictable show. Jackman was lame-o. Yay for Kate and Slumdog. Boo for no Rourke. Liked the format with bringing former winners out) Sunday night, it truly struck me how far away I am from high school life, and uncharacteristically, I was sad about it. I wanted to be on my shitty couch, eating my mom's salsa and critiquing dresses with the girls I spent high school leaning on and laughing with. I missed them, more than perhaps I ever have before. 

I don't know why I was so stricken by that moment, but I've come to find that whether they make you happy or sad, it really is the little things that count...

Getting a stuffed anteater for your birthday after only a passing comment is made.

Having a box of crayons mysteriously packed in your college stuff.

Care packages stuffed with comics you liked when you were five.

Having a playlist made specifically for you. 

It doesn't take much to make someone's day.