I love these little guys

 I have never considered myself a maternal person in the slightest. I think kids can have their moments, and my cat does enjoy a good cuddle session every once in a while, but i have yet to feel that motherly instinct of affection and the need to protect those smaller than me. 

Now when it comes to these tiny flocked animals with human clothes on, my heart sings a different song. Ever since I opened my first Sylvanian Families blind bag, Ive been utterly enraptured by these tiny creatures and their little beady eyes. I spend once every few weeks dusting and organizing their spot on my bookshelf, and one day I hope to have one of those house shaped shelves with the room dividers, to display each little family in their own decorated room. 

My first critter was from the Baking Babies blind bag series, found at the small section of goodies at the American Eagle checkout line. My eyes lit up when I saw the bag, immediately checking the back to see which one best suited my tastes. My wishes landed on either Scott, a kitten with a coffee cup on his head, or Henry, a bunny rabbit adorning a tea pot hat. I opened the bag as soon as I left the store, and jumped up and down in glee as i received little Henry. Though im still searching for Scott, my collection has grown quite a bit since then. I have a family of rabbits, run by a single father who loves cooking for his kids, I have the giraffe family set, gifted to me by my wife, a few miscellaneous blind box babies like the tree otter and the mushroom wolf from the forest series, a cupcake lamb, two black and white kittens, and of course the twins. Two matching kittens which i got back to back from two blind bags that my wife also bought me. They’re my favorites because they remind me of my son, Luca.

Collecting these critters has, in a way, helped me connect with my inner child, who loved bringing Sylvanian families to the school auditorium to role play with my friends. I ended up losing practically all of them, but that’s beside the point. Now I have the privilege of a display shelf for them all, but I still bring one in my purse every once in a while for good luck during the day. I wish that seven year old me could see the collection I’ve accomplished, all of the lego sets I’ve built, and all of the plushies I’ve accumulated, because I think she’d be pretty damn proud.

“You were days at the fair”

My first thought on that fateful Monday morning, returning to classes after a much needed winter break, was "take me back to the day I went to the fair". I had the time of my life that day, running around like a toddler, hopping on every ride back to back until my girlfriend was sick (of me). Rides that spun from super high up and looped all the way back down, being the first to shoot my arms up on a roller coaster, even getting all giddy and excited while waiting in line. The day ending with a giant hotdog and a few loops on the Ferris wheel topped off this five star experience. Going home that night and closing my eyes just to still feel that lingering movement from all the rollercoasters on my body's weight.

To slightly detract from the topic at hand, I spent a few years pining for my now girlfriend. Nights spent pages deep in my notes app writing all kinds of hopelessly romantic poetry. For example, this posts namesake:

First blog!

Do you know those really cliché essay themes on English class assignments? Stuff like “Should uniforms be allowed in schools? Explain your answer." or "What did you do over winter break?". I have always resented that kind of writing restriction, and always sighed as I rewrote the same arguments that I had been regurgitating since the third grade. Well, I never had an excuse to actually write about arguments or elements of my life that truly interested me. That's where an Instagram reel about the resurgence of blogging comes in. It all seems really fun, and definitely the kind of thing seven year old me saw myself doing in a far future. I always gave up on diaries and junk journals, so this might not last too long, yet as my last year of high-school comes to a quickly paced end, i find myself yearning to revive that lost love for essay writing (about the correct themes of course), and sharing digitally with a cute looking profile, while also looking through many other digital diaries sounds very nice.