Little Things

One thing that makes me really happy is thinking of the little things in life and using my imagination. Just small things that people usually never give a second thought to. We tend to pay no mind to the people and things that pass by us, but I know they all have a story that may just be more exciting than we think. 

One example would be money. In the United States all our coins say the year that they were created on them. Before it even reaches our hands, it has usually been through the hands of many people before us. I like to think about possibilities. What could that quarter in my wallet have been used for? We use quarters all the time. They’re a pretty easy coin to use. When I don’t have any one dollar bills I fish for quarters in my wallet. A lot of my machines require quarters as well. There are so many possible things that a quarter could have been used for. It could have been given to a small child for losing her first tooth. She could have used that quarter to buy a bright pink gum ball from the machine at the grocery store. What if it was used by college graduate to pay for a haircut so he would look spiffy for an interview for his dream job? Or it could have been used by an elderly couple to buy one of those pressed pennies to commemorate a memorable trip. Or it could have been flipped to make a particularly uneasy life decision. What if that quarter was the deciding factor between a person staying in their hometown where they are guaranteed a decent job, or flying off to an unknown place to follow an uncertain dream? What if this quarter enabled someone to have a meal that they otherwise would have missed if they were one quarter poorer?

 Life is crazy and that one unimportant quarter in our wallets that we could live without may have meant a smile on the face someone who had it before us. Isn’t that amazing?

Airports are another great example. There are so many people in airports coming and going. I like to think about where they are going or where they are coming from. What are their stories? If you look around at masses of people that surround you, there are millions of stories to be told. They could be off to a particularly exciting vacation that they have been saving up for for years. They could be heading home to visit old friends that they have not seen in a long time. They could be going abroad to meet some long lost relatives that they recently discovered. They could be going to visit the other half of their long distance relationship. They could also be a family going to see their son graduate with honors at a prestigious school that is on the other side of the country. What if the person in the corner recently lost her job and is going to find a new beginning for herself in a new place? Or what if that particularly nervous looking couple has been waiting a long time to go to China and meet the baby girl who will be their pride and joy for the rest of their lives.

Life is crazy and there could be amazing stories happening around us every day. It brings me joy to try and imagine what these stories are. Granted, the truth may not be near as exciting as the story I come up with. But for all anyone knows, the truth could be more amazing than any story we can imagine.

I would love to here any stories you can come up for the quarter or airport examples so please leave a comment. Also, if you have an other examples of little things that you think about, please share those as well.