Hello from a hotel bed near a hotel window overlooking another hotel. Behind that hotel is a sliver of the Blue Ride Mountains. I'm back in Harrisonburg, Virginia, for a board meeting, where I went to school at James Madison University, I hated the idea of the six hour drive, but now I sit here, smiling, reminiscing about the place that has a permanent spot in the form of a mountain top in ink on the inside of my left ankle.
Do you know those moments where you enter into another realm of thought, reliving something in particular that happened yesterday, or the day before that, or three months ago? And that something in particular is not important in any particular way? But you're right back there, thinking about that very not particular thing? And you realize that it's now particular because your brain has found it interesting, for some reason, which must make it important?
I am still struck by a conversation I had with Dan's cute little cousins — who were our flower girls and are more like my nieces at this point — during the holidays. It is February.
I don't think we were talking about anything in specific when they asked me if I have a car. When I told them no, they said to me, “But I thought you were a grown up.” I laughed so hard. For obvious reasons. (I'm not.) But then I set out to explain myself to them.
“Have you ever been on a train?”
“No.”
“Well, the train is like my car. It's called a subway in New York City. It's like my magic carpet. I ride it to work every day."
My audience's eyes grow bigger, so I continue.
“I get to fly across the water. And I wave to the Statue of Liberty every morning as I pass by."
“You do?”
“Yes. I get to do that every day. Isn't that cool?”
Granted, I only go into the office a handful of days during the week and work from home the rest. But telling this miniature, seemingly unimportant campfire tale to those wide eyes made me realize how special my days are, how happy I am with this little life right now — because it's made up of these little moments.
Life being made up of small wonders is not news. It's been written about before. But in explaining your life to a tiny person, it can become inexplicably magical. Whether it's drinking hot beans that make you feel warm and cozy and sometimes gives you energy (your daily oat milk latte) or standing under a grand waterfall each morning (the shower) or training to fight dragons (the gym), try impress them with the every day. Try to impress yourself. See what wonders it reveals.
