Places in the World I Would Mark on a Map. If I Were Making Such a Map. Which I'm Not. I'm Making a List.
Places where I hesitated before entering.
Places where I smelled smoke but there wasn't any.
Places where I bought a book just because I liked the cover.
Places where I've fallen down.
Places where I felt invisible.
Places where I forgot to breathe.
Places where I was almost run over.
Places where I wasn't honest with myself.
Places where I heard sounds I couldn't identify.
Places where I wanted to leave but had to stay.
Places where I learned something new and fabulous.
Places where I couldn't avoid speaking with someone I didn't want to speak with.
Places where I didn't know any language that was useful.
Places where I was afraid to be up so high.
Places where I collided with a bicycle.
Places where I didn't want to buy anything.
Places where I visited dead people.
Places where I had to endure too many rules made by too many other people.
Places where I didn't wear any items of black clothing.
Places where I felt comfortable in my own skin.
Places where I couldn't avoid big bugs.
Places where I embarrassed myself by laughing uncontrollably and inappropriately.
Places where I was still and quiet and alone and happy.
Places where I waited for someone who never showed up.
Places where I held her hand and she held mine.
Places where I couldn't stand the smells surrounding me.
Places where I danced with abandon, until my feet wouldn't move any longer.
Places where I could feel my heart beating faster.
Places where I was mistaken for somebody else.
Places where I was actually very brave.
Places where I operated large machinery and didn't lose any body parts in the process.
Places where I kept my mouth shut.
Places where I thought I was alone but it turned out that I wasn't.
Places where I pretended to be English.
Places where I lost control.
Places where I have gone in my dreams.
Places where I said the opposite of what I meant.
Places where I read the last chapter of a book before I read the first.
Places where I met someone I'd always wanted to meet and they turned out to be as wonderful as I thought they were.
Places where I was talking out loud to myself and people noticed.
Places where I lost my temper (and/or was rude) and regretted it.
Places where I lost my temper (and/or was rude) and did not regret it.
Places where I stood still in the middle of the street and couldn't go on.
Places where I was happy and comfortable and safe in the middle of a huge noisy crowd of people.
Places where I swooned over dessert.
Places where I dropped a full bag of groceries and broken glass was involved.
Places where I was robbed.
Places where I had an epiphany.
Places where I succumbed to the irrational urge to buy at least one new pen that I didn't need.
Places where I wept in public.
Places where I expected to be welcomed with open arms and I wasn't.
Places where I stopped to re-tie my shoelaces.
Places where I didn't understand the instructions.
Places where I entered a room and walked right out again.
Places where I shook hands with someone whose grip was limp and damp.
Places where I waved to somebody, thinking they were somebody else.
Places where I waited for a bus that never arrived.
Places where I didn't stop to smell the roses.
Places where I bought a pair of beautiful shoes even though I knew they didn't fit.
Places where I eavesdropped on strangers.
Places where I looked out a window but didn't see anything because my mind was elsewhere.
Places where I walked into a movie theatre after the movie had begun.
Places where I got a haircut that I hated.
Places where I stopped before I got to the top.
Places where I walked down the street playing an instrument.
Places where I refused to give up.
Places where I took something that didn't belong to me.
Places where I fell asleep in public, drooled a little, and maybe even snored.
Places where I squinted into the sun.
Places where I left a performance during the intermission.
Places where I didn't see her at first, and then I did see her, and I was so happy she was there.
Places where I stopped at the Scenic Overlook and thought "ho hum."
Places where I slept soundly but later she said there was a ghost in the room.
Places where I ate an excellent meal in a restaurant, on my own.
Places where I made a promise I knew I could not keep.
Places where I said "I'm sorry" and meant it.
Places where I had no business going in the first place and I shouldn't have been surprised when things turned out badly.
Places where I picked wildflowers along the side of the road.
Places where I sat around a campfire singing those good old tunes with utmost sincerity.
Places where I didn't do a good job with a hammer and nail.
Places where I heard disturbing news.
Places where I ran out of time.
Places where I thought the line or queue I was on would never move.
Places where I saw something I wish I hadn't seen.
Places where I had to quickly take off my hat/scarf/gloves because suddenly it was much too hot.
Places where I got caught in the rain without an umbrella.
Places where I bumped into something or someone because I was walking and reading at the same time.
Places where I gave up too soon.
Places where I spent a whole day in the public library.
Places where I ran out of coins in the phone booth before the conversation was over.
Places where I had to answer awkward, embarrassing questions.
Places where I refused to get on the elevator.
Places where I had to say "no" repeatedly before I was heard.
Places where I received good advice but ignored it.
Places where I thought "this must be a dream," but it wasn't.
Places where I didn't get the joke.
Places where I relished being in the limelight.
Places where I felt safe in my disguise.
Places where I wrote in the dark.
Places where I followed a stranger down the street because I was curious to see where we would both end up.
Places where I refused to consult a map or ask for directions.
Places where I regretted not being more competent in math.
Places where I thought I'd be bored and restless but instead I was peaceful and content.
Places where I had to pay money to use the toilet.
Places where I saw a friendly face in the crowd and it was the reassurance I most needed.
Places where I sneezed and couldn't find a tissue in any one of my many pockets.
Places where I accidentally stepped on a crack even though, under normal circumstances, I would not do that.
Places where I startled a wild animal as much as it startled me.
Places where I should have knocked before entering.
Places where I ate something that was too hot and it burned my tongue.
Places where I looked up just in time to see a bird begin its song.
Places where I read the "keep off the grass" sign but I didn't heed it.
Places where I was in water up over my head.
Places where I couldn't find an all-night pharmacy when I needed one.
Places where I resisted temptation.
Places where I was foolishly sentimental.
Places where I came eyeball to eyeball with someone else's insanity.
Places where I abruptly changed my seat.
Places where I was disappointed in myself.
Places where I was the least athletic person in the group.
Places where I cleaned someone else's house.
Places where I went for months at a time without cooking.
Places where I hitchhiked.
Places where I was intimately familiar with public transportation routes.
Places where I could have consulted a dictionary but I chose not to.
Places where I felt uncomfortably touristy.
Places where I walked into a museum just to use the bathroom.
Places where I didn't recognize myself.
Places where I knew all my neighbors.
Places where I should have trusted my intuition, but unfortunately I didn't.
Places where I stood up for myself.
Places where I asked for help and got it.
Places where I was thirsty.
Places where I was much too bossy.
Places where I couldn't remember the rules of the game.
Places where I ran out of ink.
