I’m at the airport.

Waiting at my gate.

Why not get some reflecting done?

5 traditions and habits that I realized about my life.

sudoku

Sudoku is a constant. Or at least, I always fly Delta, so planes almost always carry a copy of the Delta travel mag. No matter where I’m going, I can always count on there to be a Sudoku to distract myself with. It’s a constant, in a series of ever-changing flight destinations.

It keeps my mind sharp. Getting one done gives me just a little sense of self-accomplishment that I get from numbers, a rarity since math and stats aren’t my strong suits.

auntie anne’s at the airport

I’ve flown out of the Chicago airport more times than I can count, and I always get assigned the same gate. There’s an Auntie Anne’s in the same terminal, and I always have to walk past it to get to my gate. See, I can’t not get anything from Auntie Anne’s if I walk by. Thus, I always get something.

My whole childhood was highlighted with experiences visiting the Auntie Anne’s in my local mall, which was a source of comfort for me. See, I didn’t really like shopping when I was a little kid (though I like it a lot these days) and only went to the mall when my family went or to get something I needed, like a gift. But the Auntie Anne’s was always a beacon of happiness and light with its warm yeasty creations, and it became a regular thing.

Until we moved closer to downtown Atlanta, and there wasn’t an Auntie Anne’s in sight. I mean, it’s not a big enough deal that I’d go out of my way to get Auntie Anne’s, only if I passed by one.

And then I started going to Northwestern, and then flying in and out of the Chicago Atlanta terminal became a regular thing, and there it was…

Feels like the old tradition re-imagined.

doing your own hair

Why do people go to salons? This is something I’ve never understood. At least for women, it’s so easy to cut it yourself. You can even naturally bleach and dye it at home. There are hundreds of tutorials online. Perfection isn’t a priority. I never cut it short enough that a few uneven ends are worth noticing.

driving my sister to school

Since going off to college, my relationship with my sister has gotten a lot better. Distance can be good. We never fight anymore, and I feel like in regards to family issues, we are always on the same side. She tells me about her problems and looks out for my advice. She lets me do her makeup for special events. SHE EVEN LET ME CUT HER HAIR THE NIGHT BEFORE A BIG DANCE.

Everytime I’m back from college and she still has school, we make a tradition of driving together, even though she has her license. I still wake up at 7:30 to send her. We argue over who gets to play music, she eats breakfast while I drive, and we chat about life. Occasionally, when we have time, we get Chick-fil-a and eating it in the car, parked in the parking lot. This tradition will expire, I guess, when my sister goes off to college, but I’m still glad to have a year and a half of opportunities left.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

I used to be a total book worm elementary and middle school. It was a comfort to have two stacks of books by my bedside, one of stories I’d read and conquered, and one, a mountain of imagination I had yet to reach. As quickly as I read them, however, I forgot their plots and characters.

For the past few years whenever people have asked me what my favorite book was, the only one that would come to mind was A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. 

It’s like a Bible to me. I can flip open to any page and read a few chapters, and I know half of it by heart now. I’ve grown with Francie (the main character). The book follows her family’s beginnings up until she goes off to college.

So at home, it’s my own tradition to read it whenever I’m in the bath. I put on some instrumental music, throw in some bath salts, and read until the water gets cold. I forget about all of my own life drama and get transported back to Brooklyn, NY at the turn of the 20th century.

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tradition is…what you make it.

Some traditions are really important to me, not in a tradition-for-the-sake-of-tradition way, but because they actually hold value and sentimental feeling.

There will be new traditions established as I move along in life. It may be too soon to tell if there are any worth noting in college yet. The closest example that I can think of is that Lisette and I have gone and sat front row at Refusionshaka (huge dance production Northwestern puts on) two years in a row, with each other.

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I’ve been looking for a song like this…