Over the past month or so, I have seen a little Asian woman taking her morning walk as I drive to work. It doesn't sound that eventful or out of the ordinary. Other than that she rests her wrists on her hips as she walks; and as she takes each step, she raises the opposite wrist and slams it down on her hip.... Very odd exercise routine. I would think maybe, say, like wrist weights or something before the hip/wrist collision idea. Buuuuut, that's cool! Whatever makes her happy.
Anyway, seeing her each morning started off with a hasty thought like "Ha! Look at that little lady. Even the way she walks is foreign!" Or something equally as judgmental and horribly racist. (Oh, come on. You know you think stuff like that for just a split second). But then, she started becoming endearing. She was everything that I could want out of "Awkward Top o' the Morning to Ya"'s. I started looking for her jerky movements each morning. She was always there - it became familiar.
But today, she wasn't there at all. I caught myself looking for her, looking down the streets where I usually see her. Nowhere to be found. Suddenly, the morning felt... off. I didn't realize how attached I'd gotten to her off-beat gait and odd-fitting striped tanks. It's an odd thing - what becomes special to us. The little things are often more important than the big things. Or at least I feel they are appreciated more. And very few people understand that. I can tell my mother about how one of my friends brought me three homemade chocolate chip cookies, and to my mom, it would be just that - "Oh cool. That was sweet. Why did you feel the need to tell me that?" But chocolate chip cookies (particularly homemade) are my absolute weakness. I would do most anything for some CC cookies. And I hate going to the trouble of making cookies and HAVING TO WAIT ON THEM!!! So, put those two together, and you've pretty much won a piece of my heart over. My mom wouldn't get that. In fact, no one really would except for me and maybe the person that gave them to me. Obviously this example is silly and doesn't really apply. But all that to say, that I am so thankful for the little things in life as well as the little things in other people. They make my friends different people. I know them on a different level. The ins and outs of us are so fascinating. I want to know what makes them tick. I want to give and take. I want to laugh and hold you. I want to be lying on my back in the park. I want to be on top of a building in the city. I want to be in a hoop dress three hundred years ago. ....NO, I want to be here right now. It's as close to anything wonderful as I could ask for. I just have to remind myself to appreciate the little things that are a part of my life right now. Imagination is a wonderful thing, but it tends to make one less in the here-and-now than they should be. Focus. There are so many little things in my life to be enjoyed. And I really, really do.
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