Bicycle.

Tonight I went on a long bike ride at sunset, and I realized things.

I looked up at those gorgeous mountains that I live right underneath and I realized how beautiful the world is, and how many times I don't appreciate it.

I thought about time, and I remembered a day almost two years ago that I felt overcome by joy because I knew that my life was going in the right direction, even though it wasn't easy. I felt that same feeling tonight, sitting on my bike.

I also thought about that summer and I realized how those two years have flown by.

I worried about the future, but then I realized that I am still only 19, and the world is wide open in front of me. Whatever choices I make will be my own choices. I create my own universe.

I thought about these few weeks of summer that I have left and how I kind of want to fast-forward through them. Then I remembered words that are written on the wall in the break room at Plato's Closet, of all places.

"If you don't like something, change it.
If you can't change it, then change your mind about it."

Sometimes I think my friend Annie, who wrote them, is the smartest person I know.

"He bet me I couldn't find a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I told him that was a stupid bet because the rainbow was enough." -Rita Mae Brown