The world feels very big this morning.
New York City: Day 291
Lutz, Florida: Day 14
Often I marvel at how small it seems. I can run into a childhood friend’s ex-boyfriend while we’re in line for an improv comedy show at Upright Citizen’s Brigade. An engaged couple who didn’t meet until their 20′s can find photographs from Disney World proving that their paths crossed when they were toddlers. There are Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. (Lindsey Trout was in Up in the Air with George Clooney who was in The Thin Red Line with Sean Penn who was in Mystic River with Kevin Bacon. Bam!) Sometimes the complexity of all of the connection is just staggering.
Today isn’t one of those days. Stella, my Uncle Greg’s beautiful blue heeler, has been sitting and staring at the garage door for twenty minutes. Greg just left with a suitcase. She knows he’ll be gone for awhile.
I understand how she feels. I’m in Florida. My mother’s in Georgia. My father’s in Texas. My grandparents are in Illinois. My twin sister is in Nicaragua. My boyfriend is Brooklyn. My best girl is in Iowa. Soon, my aunt and uncle will leave for India. While I have no doubt that Connor, Kiernan, Clare, and I will have no trouble holding down the fort here in Lutz, the disconnect and the miles are weighing a little heavy today.
Even for all of the vastness of the world, I’m amazed at the ability of the internet to shrink it all (or a lot of it, anyway) to the neat 13 inches of my MacBook. Last night, I introduced my twin sister, Lauren, to my boyfriend, Christopher (otherwise known as The Poet), via the wonders of Skype. She currently teaches at a Popular Education Center in Nicaragua. She’ll live there until at least December 2011. Chris, on the other hand, has been busy exploring New York City with me and working on his MFA in Poetry. Though they’ve exchanged letters, it seemed wrong that two such important people in my life have never met. But, Skype is magic. Nicaragua met Brooklyn met Lutz and everything got smaller for a few moments. It was nice.
It’s good to be in awe of all that is sprawling and wide-spread. A healthy dose of fear of the measureless is good, too. But today, I’m looking for the seams. Ones like this: http://www.petapixel.com/2010/06/09/engaged-couple-find-photo-showing-they-crossed-paths-as-toddlers/
