My past is too much of an influence on my present,
I know it's a problem.
But whenever I look in the bathroom mirror,
I see my 15 year old self,
A cigarette hanging out of her mouth
Just like the one that is currently in my mouth.  
Her hair is still dyed dark purple and out of control,
Spiking out of her head
Like she just stuck her finger in a light socket.  
She takes the cigarette out of her mouth
And smoke clouds up the mirror.  
I watch her hand reach up through the smoke
Into the real world and take my cigarette
Out of my mouth and toss it in the trash.  
I can't decide whether I've gone completely crazy
Or if that encounter was the
Best thing that ever happened to me.  
Why can't it be both?

The snow has come,
And I can look forward to the days,
Where we go outside,
And build a snowman,
Where our mom finally lets us play tackle football,
Because it’s soft enough that we shouldn’t get hurt.
Shouldn’t anyways.
I can look forward to the days,
when my mom comes into my room on a school morning,
And says snow day,
You can go back to sleep!
I can look forward to sleepovers,
With best friends and going outside,
And making snow angels,
Then coming in and begging for hot cocoa,
With extra Reddi Whip,
That is why I look forward to snow.

Time for happiness,
Time for forgetting troubles,
And a time for peace.

I am from ***** Farmer candies
From old roller skates,
and falling apart jump ropes
From making up games,
rather than them being handed over.

I am from having to go to the neighbors house for the TV,
And from not getting one until 7th grade.
From the Milton Berle talk show,
that aired in the 50's.
From American Drama series,
such as Fireside Theatre starring Gene Raymond.
And from brunette Elizabeth Taylor,
and The Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

I am from “Waste not, want not,”
and “A penny saved is a penny earned.”
I am from Laura Lee Hope and the Bobbsey Twins.
From longing to be a nurse and becoming one.

In my heart, and 27 years in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
those moments are kept,
Those memories may not seem very valuable,
but to me they are everything.