Last night I found myself getting lost in the minutia of details on an article I’ve been working on for over a month. To say I was aggravated would be an understatement. So, I decided to shared it with someone I knew would see it in a different way and give me some honest feedback.After breaking it down and basically telling me that I had two articles and not just one, I decided to hold off on publishing and to take another look at the piece. My friend kept asking me what I was trying to portray. They wanted a 3-5 word synopsis. FYI, this is impossible for me. I went off in ramblings and ended up feeling more lost than when I started, but I appreciated and admired how they managed to get it down to 3-5 words: Respect, Admiration, Humility, and Gratitude.
I’m about 99% sure they recognized my frustration, so they told me to step out back on my patio and look up. They said that those stars are reminders of how small we are in this world, and that simplicity was what I was trying to portray in my article.
Man, I hate it when they’re right.
We sat there staring at the little dipper together even though we were miles apart laughing about our days, and it reminded me that the greatest things aren’t the big things. Its the little things. And just like that, there was not one, but two, shooting stars in the sky.
The sense of wonder I experienced in that moment reminded me of when I sat on the Cliffs of Moher on my birthday. It was my first one spent completely solo. I anticipated feeling sad or missing home, but instead I felt alive and like anything was possible. Sitting on the edge of those cliffs also served as a much needed reminder of how small I am in comparison to this big world. I was grateful for that humbling perspective to start my 29th year. I was equally as grateful for the reminder tonight, and for the person who knew that was just what I needed.