Shoeboxes Stuffed With Ands

We were young and small and stupid and fragile and we believed we were invincible and we refused to believe otherwise and we blamed being frugal on being young and we did not know otherwise and and and and we smiled at the thought of love and we didn't know we hadn't felt it and we quieted at the thought of war and we didn't know we did not comprehend it and we laughed at the thought of futures and we were young and small and stupid and fragile and and and and. We became the dot dot dot and the et cetera and the blank spaces after every and and we didn't know where the next sentence would take us and we were afraid of where it wouldn't and and and so we stopped talking and we started rebelling and that's what being young is all about, right? Making people mad and taking a stand and fighting a battle and using your voice and dying your hair and peircing your lips and popping balloons and sitting on needles and looking in mirrors and dressing in costumes and and and and we were young and small and stupid and fragile and we've gotta stop thinking our mistakes didn't count and that they never happenned and that we had an excuse and we didn't and and and we did and and we should be grateful we had those mistakes to frown at and laugh at and shout at and scream at and cry at and “cheers to the teenage years” and welcome to the start of your immortality and welcome to the end of the rebellion and the start of the intervention and and we are young and small and stupid and.... and... look at all the ands, we are a lot of things, darling. We were young, and that's the excuse we've always used, so why all the ands? Don't grow up, and limit the amount of caterpillars you kill. One day there will be even more stories to end in ands because you are always younger today than you will be tomorrow and you will always have mistakes to defend and you will always have the future to rely far too heavily upon. One day you will run out of ands and you will run out of butterflies and you will hold an umbrella to the sun and you will wear a swimsuit in the rain and you will think about how being young was not an excuse and it wasn't an apology. It was what you were. And and and what you are. And and