Like the the way your pillow felt,
as you plunged into it’s feathers,
with your favorite disney characters lining the case
as if they were assuring you got to sleep
just right
after a long day of multiplying fractions
a tussle on the playground
and learning what a comma does.
In the blink of an eye
you’ll find yourself lying there
in your compact dorm room
staring at the white ceiling
on the freshly ironed navy blue
pillow case that covers
the $5 target pillow
and it just doesn’t feel the same.

Like the feeling after you read a book,
that turning in your stomach
starts when you realize
it’s over
and there's no more pages to turn.
How lonely your will fingers feel
when they can’t grip the paperback
that made you feel like you weren’t
just some girl alone at the lunch table.
How strange a new book will feel,
with unfamiliar characters
to begin to understand
and fall in love with
all over again.

Like seeing a movie for the first time
in a sold-out theater,
surrounded by cheers and chatter
and that gigantic bucket of buttered popcorn.
How desperate you feel in the closing moments
just before the credits,
begging the story not to end
just yet.
And how every time after that
will feel a little less special,
because you just order a water
or nobody else was in the theater.

Like the way your father’s hand
intertwines with yours
as you blush with embarrassment
starting your first day in middle school.
I’m too old for this,
I’m too old for this,
you’ll say in your head.
With a flutter of your eyelashes
you’ll hear your beige three inch heels
begin to echo along the sacred halls.
As your satin train follows behind
and you start to near your future,
you plea for that hand to not let go
just yet.
But it will
and a new hand
will quickly takes it’s place.