Showing posts with label too. Show all posts
Showing posts with label too. Show all posts

Monday, February 27, 2012

Sometimes I'm Alice.

At times, I feel very much so like Alice in Wonderland. Not the part with the Cheshire cat or the caterpillar, an I certainly don't have the Queen of Hearts chasing after me. "Off with her head!" Nope, I don't hear that. Rather, I feel like the moments where Alice is too big or too small for her surroundings. Either her knees are pressed up against the walls because she is a giant, looming over the tiny chairs, or she is hanging from the leg of a table, barely able to fit her arms around it. The strange sensation of not fitting where she should overcomes Alice, and she is rather relieved to return to her natural size.

Obviously, I am neither a giant nor a lilliputian, but I am like Alice inside of myself. The tiniest instances become giants in my brain, and the huge stresses are like crumbs on the table of my life. A simple misunderstanding becomes an unresolvable  issue. A huge test becomes a tiny homework check. It is as if I pick up the bottle labeled "Drink me" every morning, and guzzle the whole bottle without a second thought. I'm sure I'm not alone in this, but I often feel as if my proportions are so off from the rest of the world that I will never be understood. I feel like I'll constantly be wandering around like a tiny person in a mansion or trampling things like a giant in a dollhouse. I just want to put down the bottle, crumble the "Eat me" cracker, and walk away. But I just cannot. The proportions of my emotions and feelings will just be off balance for now. Every text message without a reply, a battle against tears. Every tweet of a bird, a cause for confetti. Every test, a blip on my radar. Every huge moment, another day. Sure, it's a strange world to live in...but it's mine. And perhaps one day, the tiny chairs won't feel so small; the giant tables won't loom so largely. Maybe one day, I'll be able to see as everyone else. But until then, I'll be here, elbows pressed against the windows, head squished against the ceiling or tiny feet scampering over the boulders of gravel, nimble fingers petting ants on the head. I'll just be here, waiting for the world, my world, to make sense.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

It's the 'too' that matters.

We all have pet peeves. One of my roommates can't stand when the sink is so full that she can't fill up the Brita pitcher. Another friend hates when her socks get wet from someone spilling water on the floor. My dear friend can't stand it when people smack when they eat. (And I tend to agree. That noise is terrible.) I personally can't handle it when someone enters a room and changes everything-the temperature, the music, the general atmosphere.
But I've recently discovered that I have the complete opposite of pet peeves. I guess you could call them my favorite things, but they aren't really fitting into the raindrops on roses category. They are deeper than girls is white dresses with blue satin sashes or apple strudel. These things are the ones that make my heart sing and make my eyes twinkle. They can turn the late nights of loneliness into nights where I snuggle into my nest and sigh out of happiness. What are these things? There are too many to name...but I'll give you the one of the moment.
Favorite thing of the Moment: Getting to say "I love you too."
I know it sounds simple, but that 'too' means the world to me. When I get to say that, it means that the other person thought of the love first. It means that they think I'm worthy of hearing it. It means that someone sees me and loves me.
When I was a little girl, I used to pray that my parents would say "I love you" first, only because I wanted to say the 'too.' It's the 'too' that matters. It sounds like a silly prayer, but the days that the Lord answered that prayer are ones that I still remember, fifteen years later.
I have this one dear friend who is really good at giving me this joy. Anytime we are parting ways, she takes the time to pause, look me in the eye, and say "I love you." Do I deserve this? Oh definitely not. But is it something I adore about her? Yes. Does the song in my heart get louder every single time? Yes.
It truly is the little things. The moments that other people don't see as important are the ones that bring me the most joy. She probably doesn't think much of that moment of looking me in the eye and loving me, but that is what screams friendship to me. And it's that moment of joy that causes me to realize how blessed I am...to know her, to be here, to have friends who love me.
Even in the times where I feel like I'm a complete mess, I'm loved by this one and others...and that's where the joy is.