Moments From My Life that Felt Like a Movie

Do you know those moments where you feel like you’re living out a dream of yours but also stealing it straight from the plot of a movie? Moments that feel so good, so warm, so perfect, and sort of familiar too?

I love those moments. Here are some of my favorites:

Flower Crowns at the Farmer’s Market Before a Dead Show

My college roommate and I spent a weekend in June at back-to-back Dead and Company shows in Boulder, Colorado. On the first night, we saw a girl wearing a headband made of sunflowers, which gave us the idea to make flower crowns for the next night.

The next morning, we walked over to the farmer’s market to find flowers. We found a flower stand and while we were looking at the pre-made bouquets, the lady there asked if we had anything in mind. We told her of our flower crown idea and she excitedly lifted up her hands to show us a partially done flower crown.

She said, “get back here and make flower crowns with me!”

So my friend and I sat in the back of an old VW truck and learned how to make flower crowns.

We wore them to the show that night and I got to dance around to Grateful Dead music wearing a flower crown and living out my hippie dreams.

Biking Around Under the Stars

At night when the restaurants were closed and the town was quiet, my friend and I would meet up to bike around our little town.

We had our favorite spots- the baseball field, the roof of the breakfast joint, and a few others- where we would just lay down, stare at the stars, and talk forever. Then we’d bike around some more, race down the hills, laugh, and forget the rest of the world exists.

That was the summer between my freshman and sophomore year of college- my last summer at home. Those nights felt like the perfect way to close that chapter of my life. Also, it felt like a movie.

Summer Mornings Talking to my Neighbor on His Porch

I have a neighbor, the sweetest old man, who sits out on his porch every day, talking to everyone that passes by. As often as I could, I would stop and talk with Doug. We’d sit on his porch under trees that towered over his old house.

We’d talk about life. He would tell me about his travels, and I’d tell him about mine. He lent me his favorite travel magazines and books about the ocean. He told me stories and snuck in little pieces of advice I don’t think I’ll ever forget.

He told me, “traveling is what happens in your mind. You could stay at every Holiday Inn on the planet, but unless you let your mind expand and develop new perspectives and learn about the world, you’re not really traveling.”

He also taught me how crucial it is to have passion in this life. He told me “you need to dream in order to make a dream come true.”

He told me a bit about love too. He said, “You have to put yourself out there and let your heart love fully and openly in order to find your true love- even if it means you get hurt a few times in between.”

Driving Through Valley of Fire

I was on a road trip with two of my friends for spring break. Living in Colorado, we were pretty fed up with the cold so we drove west, chasing the sun.

The morning we woke up in Nevada was the first warm day, in fact, it was the first warm day I had felt in months. We spent the morning in Valley of Fire State Park- a place so beautiful you can’t quite believe it’s real. I stuck my head out the window as we were driving down this windy desert road with views so beautiful they could take your breath away.

The sun on my skin, the wind in my hair, my best friends in the car, the thought of being hundreds of miles from home without a care in the world- it was beautiful.

Driving from Las Vegas to Death Valley

Later that day, we drove to Death Valley National Park.

So for hours, we drove on nearly empty desert roads. We drove through ghost towns and watched tumbleweeds blow across the road, and saw saguaro cacti.

It was the epitome of a desert road trip and a dream or two come true.

Having a Picnic on the Desert Floor While Watching the Sunset

This right here is one of my favorite parts about road trips. We tend to get to our campsite just before the sun sets. We never bring chairs of any sort, just a blanket we lay on the ground.

So every road trip night is a desert picnic under the setting sun. It’s beautiful.

We make dinner, watch the sunset, and stay there until the stars take over. Then we lay on the blanket and stargaze.

The Time I Slept in the Middle of a Lake

It was summer at the lake. I was with my friend at their lake house in New Hampshire. This place was beautiful in every way you can imagine, but the stars were objectively the best part. There’s no light pollution, so you can see every little fold of the universe and more stars than you can wrap your head around.

It was my first time seeing a night sky that clear, my first time seeing that many stars at once, my first time seeing the milky way, and my first time seeing a shooting star too.

They had a water trampoline floating a little ways from shore. Every night we would swim out there and stare at the stars forever.

One night, we decided to sleep out there. We were soaked and laid in about 3 inches of water the whole night, no one slept much, but to this day it is one of my favorite memories.