Allegra Bortoni, Grade 12
UWC Costa Rica

The following list contains some items that have the ability to add light to any of my days. . Perhaps you might find it somewhat odd that basic grateful-to-be elements are not present, such as “my family”, or “my friends”. I undoubtedly love them, however, I wanted this list to include elements that were not above the surface of my gratitude. I had to dig in to retrieve them. However, since most of them were at the base, it stands to reason that they play an important role in my own support. 
  1. I am grateful for Wes Anderson’s, Hayao Miyasaki’s, and Sylvain Chomet’s films. They have always managed to contain the recipe for an enduring final heartwarming feeling by the point you get to the end credits. 
  2. I am grateful for coffee, most accurately for a pair of specific coffee shops, since they have held and given a home to some of the most meaningful conversations, memories, and encounters I’ve ever had. 
  3. I am grateful for the spontaneous affection containing postcards and handwritten notes I’ve received over the years. I believe this might be a shared experience to a certain degree. Remember going to a school camp and having an activity where you leave a bag with your name on it so that people can eventually leave a note if they feel like doing so? Or maybe you have lived through a similar scenario that includes the bag, but with a different setting. I am grateful for those moments of sitting down and fetching the notes one by one. Every once in a while, you get a surprise, a letter from someone that you would have never expected to write something for you. ♡
  4. I am grateful for old pictures. They bring to life childhood memories that I would have otherwise forgotten.
  5. I am grateful for rainy days. Smelling the damp soil, watching the raindrops slide through the windows, and listening to them reach the ground. 
  6. I am grateful for books. Once I read Stephen King’s appreciation of reading. He considered the act of reading equivalent to telepathy. The author and the reader will have a common vision as the story unfolds, communicating without the interference of geographical distances or years, decades, and centuries. 
  7. I am grateful for people who have contagious laughs and for kind strangers. ​