In the south, small towns seem to make up the majority. Where one can wear their rose colored glasses to drive down a two lane road, fields of grass and sun rays reaching out on either side of you. Little worlds in which everyone lives their own lives, yet everyone knows each other… and in turn knows everything. Time seems to move slower, summers are sweeter, laughs are louder and it feels like a simple bubble that is hard to break free from. In high school within my small town it felt as if all I wanted to do was break free, to go off and become something larger than what my small town guaranteed me. Now, approaching my final year of college, life seems much more complicated and the world feels multitudes larger.
Growing pains come amidst random times, flowing with the wind and sweeping you away, in a week I had gone through countless emotions of excitement and nervousness all rolled into one. On one of my final days in the city, embracing the beautiful blooming of May, Central Park felt like a must do. Strolling through the lush green park, much of the grass was covered. Green hidden under checkered picnic blankets, sprawling bodies suntanning (most likely due to their too-expensive and too-tiny apartment not having a perfect spot for sun), and feet running with laughter trailing not far behind. In such a large, overwhelming city, the scene felt small. Delicate little bubbles of friendships, connections, community…the world started to feel smaller.
Strolling through the park it just became clearer, mothers holding hands with their daughters in yellow dresses, drummers sitting on park benches blending harmonies and filling the air with rhythm, and of course romantics rowing across the pond together backlit by the afternoon sun. A few years ago I came across a term that described a feeling I felt many times; sonder. Sonder refers to the fact that each individual person lives their own life, those people rowing in tiny boats on a spring day I am merely glimpsing, yet they will leave the park and go about their own days. Sometimes when the world feels so large, remembering we are not alone amongst it reminds us that it is one of the many beauties of life. There is so much of it to explore; experiences, people, places, and doesn't that make it so much more exciting?
I am just one girl, 21 years old and have my whole life ahead of me. Over time I know, although things will change and time will continue to move…I will keep finding friends to share a picnic blanket with, rhythms that float on the wind to listen to, and navigate my own rowboat amongst waters, whether it be the smallest pond or the deepest ocean. I am just a small girl in a big world, so it’s time I get started.
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