It was the year I drove over the Tappan Zee for the first time of what would be hundreds. It was the year I went five months without my parents, living off broccoli cheddar soup and ham sandwiches. The year I got cabin fever and took a November bus ride through early sunsets and empty houses, as the last few brown leaves hung on by threads. When I passed the Quinnipiac River, I let swans drift away. It was the year spent sitting, curled in my chair until the sunlight crept and sunk beneath the torn carpet. 2010 was laundry detergent and fleeting innocence. It was bed sheets and rain drops hiding flames. It was the year I preferred ***** over church, and spent the next 4 trying to erase.