I was sitting in bed the night after I had watched Mamma Mia for the first time (awesome movie 12/10 recommend), and my mind was wandering to how I was turning 17 in a few months. That was the age of the “Dancing Queen” and I still hadn’t made any Blockbuster-worthy life choices. So, I did what any normal girl going through a 2 a.m. life crisis would do and Googled how expensive it would be to move to Greece and never talk to anyone again. I’d go and turn an abandoned building into a beautiful multi-million dollar hotel, get three attractive foreign men to fall in love with me and sing everything I do. Take out the part with getting pregnant (we don’t have to follow the movie EXACTLY), and I might as well be Meryl Streep.

However, a quick look at the price of plane tickets reminded me that despite the message behind many, many Disney Channel pop songs, not all dreams come true. So, I instead got to thinking about all the moments in my life that I don’t appreciate enough simply because they don’t happen in Greece, and I am now in the process of writing my own musical because life ain’t a movie unless you make it one. Enjoy this list of things you shouldn’t take for granted while I work on the opening dance number.

The moment when you’re at the tippy top of a ferris wheel and the person you’re with shakes the cart.

We all have that one friend who will go ahead and suggest the ferris wheel as a fun family friendly activity… and then almost KILL YOU ON IT.  The bar across your lap is way to rusty and loose for this to be even close to funny but a cross between a giggle and a shriek always comes out anyway. Hey, we might go down in this thing, but we’re going down together – plus if we make it, this is an amazing party story.

When you’re driving by yourself and a song you completely forgot you loved comes on.

“NO WAY I LOVE THIS SONG!” You then aggressively turn up the volume and start to sing the main part, the back up parts, plus the guitar riffs, all while using your steering wheel as a drum set. The person next to you at the red light is either appalled or hyping you up, either way it doesn’t matter.  It’s been years but you know every single lyric like you’d just bought it on your iPod shuffle yesterday. (PSA: Picture to Burn by young Taylor Swift will never not be a jam).

When you share a look with the person across from you because someone else says something so incredibly stupid, you don’t even know how to react.

You know exactly the look I’m talking about. When you make eye contact with someone and it just SCREAMS, “You heard that and it didn’t make any sense to you either, right? Okay good – just checking.” Mutual annoyance with someone is a fast and powerful relationship builder. This person will now forever be your friend, you are kindred spirits, homies for life. If you’ve never shared this with someone then you are probably the person saying the stupid things and just know people are silently making fun of you.  

When someone sends you a picture, video, tweet, etc. and says “this made me think of you.”

My heart melts into a million pieces when that happens. I have this amazing friend who sends me video of otters holding hands, swimming, doing tricks and every now and then a funny pug video. They make me smile no matter what and I love her endlessly for it. If she is reading this right now please know I am forever grateful for you.

When you make a sarcastic comment under your breath and the person next to you laughs.

You say it to yourself because it’s kind of rude and you aren’t about hurting people’s feelings. However, someone hears and then they laugh and you look up and realize they’re laughing at what you said and then you start laughing and then you are both laughing together and everyone else is confused. The person who appreciates your under-the-breath comments? They are keepers. Marry them.

When the outfit you have planned in your head actually looks good on.

You know in Clueless when she has that computer app thingy that puts together an outfit from the clothes in her closet? Yeah, I don’t know where they sell those but I would like one please because clothes are a painful chore. I once woke up with this striped tank top, overalls and Converse look in my head…I looked like a petite farmer who was going through a midlife crisis. The let down I felt from this outfit fail was almost worse than when I wake up and realize that Trump still is in fact president :/

When you accidentally fall asleep on the couch and take the best nap of your life without even trying.

I came home from school at 3 o’clock one time and put on the TV just to wake up to my mom shaking me at 8 o’clock because she was actually concerned I had died. Waking up with lines that are so prominent on your face that they could pass as wrinkles? That is living, my friends. Side note: if kids are coming home from school and taking 5 hour naps maybe that’s a sign that the American school system needs to chill out a little bit, just a thought. 

When you’re sitting with a person in complete silence and realize it’s not awkward at all.

Now I don’t mean going on your phones and being in the same room. I mean talking to someone and the conversation naturally dies out and maybe there’s music playing in the background or maybe not but you are both just good with the company. This is hands down the best thing ever. Maybe it’s a significant other, maybe it’s a friend, or maybe it’s a group of people, but being able to sit there and be perfectly content with letting your mind wander is such an underrated beauty. Don’t let people like this go, please!!!