The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Day

"To live intensely is a basic human necessity." 

— Jessica Zafra

Day 14 → A hero that has let you down.

Day 15 → Something or someone you couldn’t live without, because you’ve tried living without it.

I make it a habit to not have many heroes, because they usually will let you down. I have one or two, however, and they haven't let me down yet.

So. Something I couldn't live without. I base this list on memory of what I have lived without or what was taken from me at one point or another, for various reasons. Some things are laughable, but many are so serious that there is no way I can stress their importance. All of them are things I would miss. I think I would die without some of them. I think I would be very unhappy without the rest.

Truth. My journal. Happiness, or at least the pursuit of it. Hugs. A newspaper when I need it. My daughter, and really, any children I will/might have in the future. Music, no matter what kind. My parents and my siblings. Promises that are honored, kept. The ability to drive somewhere if I need to. Someone holding me during a thunderstorm or bad dream in the middle of the night. A reason to wake up in the morning. Health. Devotion. A soothed mind. The outdoors- specifically, grass under my feet and fresh air to breathe in and exhale. Pens and paper. Enough money to pay rent and buy groceries. A belief in God. Honesty from day one, honesty even if it breaks my heart and crushes my soul. Poetry. A voice. Hope.

Love.

So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, 

I'm bankrupt without love [...] 

for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do [...] 

Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. 

And the best of the three is 

love.

-First Corinthians, Chapter 13, from The Message