In the course of my 23 years, there have been certain truths that have just struck me. Some profound, others simple. A lot of them were learned at a young age. Allow me to share…
– Clouds: they MOVE. I remember laying on my back on the front lawn and looking up at the sky. It was a windy day, and the clouds were thin, and I saw them being swept across the sky. I thought I was the first person to ever realize that clouds move.
– People keep on living their lives, even if I’m not around to see it. I remember driving around late one night with my parents. It was dark and the houses that lined the street had their lights on, so I could peer inside and see people watching TV or eating dinner or playing board games. It was then that I realized that, contrary to former belief, I was not the centre of the universe. That one is still a little hard to swallow. Donald Miller, in his book Blue Like Jazz expresses a similar thought when he writes about how he always thought that life was just a movie about him, and he would get annoyed when other “actors” interfered with his plot. As selfish as that sounds, I can identify with it.
-The person looking back at me from the mirror is ME. I remember brushing my teeth at the bathroom sink, looking at my reflection and all of a sudden I was like, “Wo. I am a human being, and I exist, and I can see myself in this looking glass.” Again, this is one of those things that I STILL find weird. Life is so strange, really.
– Cats tongues feel weird. I got my first cat, Misty, when I was eight years old. She was a tabby who had been rescued from the street and I loved her fiercely. The first night I brought her home, she curled up on my lap and was purring contentedly. Then she licked my hand, and I freaked out. I thought something was wrong with her…her tongue felt like a dagger. A dagger made of sandpaper. I got used to it, but was scared at first by my mutant cat.
-Kissing involves the exchange of saliva. I know, sounds like an obvious thought, but I was caught so off guard by the slobbery, slippery mess of a first kiss I ever had. It was at Stoney Lake Bible Camp and I was 13. Seriously, I wanted to throw up in my mouth. So much spit. Kissing is much better now, though.
OK, that’s enough wisdom for one day. I trust you were enlightened.
2 Comments
LOL! You know what’s funny. I remember having very similar revelations. Especially the one about people carrying on with their lives when you aren’t around. I always kind of assumed that as soon as I left a room, everything in that room paused and waited for me to return. Now I always look at people when I’m stopped at a red light and think “I wonder where they are going?”
I find it revealing as well that when you leave a neighborhood or city or church or whatever, and years pass, you still think that you are the only one who aged and you still expect that everyone else remained the same.
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