I am waking...

I am waking up--too early.
Alarms inside and outside my head blare--too loud.
Time to get up, I tell myself.
Instead, I roll over and fade back into that place between waking and sleeping.
You'll be late, I chide, You won't have time to pack lunch, and you know you can't afford to eat out.
That does it.
I get out of bed in one swift motion--quickly, so I don't change my mind and close my eyes one...last...time...

I am making breakfast, lunch, and dinner--I'll be out of the house until 10 pm today.
Feeling like a scavenger in my own home, I search back and forth, from cabinet to cabinet, fridge to fridge, pantry to pantry, gathering things to eat.
Mom bought my favorite deli roast beef and pre-sliced monterey-jack cheese. I smile and silently thank her as I prepare the sandwich I will eat in about four hours.

I am pouring a cup of tea, inhaling the sweet fusion of herbs and boiling water.
Life.is.good.

I am chewing an English muffin with blueberry jam, as I read the book of Judges, which is the homework from my favorite class--the one I got out of bed for, which begins promptly at 8 AM.

I am driving down the same road I always do, only, it's not the same. It's never the same.
Every day I wind up behind a different vehicle, moving faster or slower than other cars on other days. While I am stuck behind one of those cars being driven by a person who finds it necessary to drive 5mph UNDER the speek limit, I keep my eyelids from sliding shut by taking notice of random kids going to school, or waiting for the bus.
But they're not random--each of those kids has a name, a family, a story.
To them, I'm just another random car, sliding in and out of their line of sight, never entering their lives to be anything more than a passing piece of scenery.
I am nobody to that elementary school girl, standing on the corner with her lunch-bag in hand and her hair tied neatly in a ponytail. She won't even see my as I roll on by--or if she does, she will only see the car that carries me.
And I wonder briefly that I could have been her nine years ago. That could have been me standing on the street corner, waiting for the bus.
What if she looked at me, and we caught eyes? For a moment, we would have met, or at least been more to each other than a random car and a random elementary school girl.
We would have been two people--alive and human.
It's so rare for people to notice each other in this day and age, that each time such a thing occurs, it becomes meaningful.

Today let's see how many people we can notice today, how many strangers we can give our smiles to, and how many cheerful neighborly waves we can share with fellow passers-by.

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creative_me's picture

That was a beautiful blog post...

"Today let's see how many people we can notice today, how many strangers we can give our smiles to, and how many cheerful neighborly waves we can share with fellow passers-by."

-I definitley think that can help to shape a better future

-Amanda-

I definitely loved reading this b/c it's a thought I've always harbored...walking down the street wondering at the emptiness of a face. It's kind of sad. I wish many times that for a second we can all understand what it means to be someone else. Then maybe in that one second we can truly connect. Human to Human. Beautiful blog. Oh please Oh please Oh please...

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