-Other than that, how was your day?

-Great! I woke up around noon because I went to bed at three last night after dancing around the room with my fluffy sheep and the lights on, thinking about all the wonderful memories we have in Lupeni, and I even drew some pictures.

Of all the chatting with my sister on WhatsApp, this piece gave me the best feeling.

This dancing around the room at three in the morning with a plush sheep in hand and thoughts of memories from Lupeni is such an expression of youth, joy, freedom, and carefreeness...! The way you can dream at this point in your life, when no final decisions have been made, when the future lies before you so vast and full of possibilities without pressuring you, allowing you to just enjoy the present, is special and wonderful.

I'm listening to a song on my headphones, and it seems to me that the lyrics match my thoughts.

When you left this town, with your windows down

And the wilderness inside

Let the exits pass, all the tar and glass

'Til the road and sky align…

I think of my mother, for whom this moment of dreaming lasts a lifetime. She can dream anytime, pretending that no decision has been made definitively and that tomorrow everything can change in a surprisingly pleasant way. And most of the time, nothing even has to change, because the simple feeling that anything is possible is enough.

Oh, Angela, it’s a long time coming...

It's 2 a.m. and I am looking out the window. I am listening to the sound of the night composed of cars, a train that seems endless, and the breath of nature that I learned to listen to when I was still at home.

The strangers in this town,

They raise you up just to cut you down

Oh Angela it's a long time coming

This song has been on repeat in my playlist for a few days now. It has a vibe that I wish I could find in other songs too, so I don't have to listen to this one over and over again until I get sick of it.

It reminds me of the freedom of youth, of an endless road stretching out ahead, leaving room for a million possibilities.

You don't need many things, and in reality, very little ties you to one place. You can go anywhere. And sometimes...

Did you hear the notes, all those static codes

In the radio abyss?

I look out the window and the image of the city lights in the distance calms me down. Maybe it doesn't compare to the view from home, where I could see an entire city and some majestic mountains that I never tire of. But the simplicity and bareness of this new view still does me good. It's an empty field that leaves room for a sky full of stars, the sound of cars passing on the street in front of us that takes you wherever you want to go, and a big city with small, twinkling lights of which you can't hear its traffic from the window but know that it welcomes you anytime into its hustle and bustle.

Home at last.