Smaller by Linda Stowe
I seem to be getting smaller. Sure, I’ve lost a bit of weight but it’s not really my body I’m talking about. It’s my world. That’s what’s getting smaller.
When I was young, I felt like I was the center of things. Every eye on the globe was looking at me, little Linda Stowe living on a farm on Kincaid Road in Preble County, Ohio. And why not? I was fabulous. As the first-born child and grandchild, I was the center of everyone’s attention.
Then my brother showed up, and my world shrank a bit. I must admit I felt a bit resentful. Then cousins started popping up and even more kids when I started to school. I was no longer the center of attention, but the other kids were fun so that was okay.
Then I got a job, so there were coworkers. More people and some of these were a bit different from me. They looked different and had different backgrounds, but they were still okay once you got to know them. Then another job and even more coworkers to get to know.
Every time I moved farther from home, the number of people in my world increased and I felt even smaller. But I didn’t feel diminished, just not the focal point. And now with the internet and the James Webb Space Telescope I’ve become a flyspeck. Barely visible but still hanging in there filling my space in humanity.
~~~~~~~~~
Polly here.
I loved this the minute I read it.
We do seem to get smaller throughout our lives, as our world grows larger.
And here we are, on a planet that is barely visible in the vast enormity of our Universe.
You and I are just one and two of eight billion people on that tiny blip.
But. To us. Our lives are large. And as Linda said, here we are, “filling our space in humanity.”
I hope I am filling mine in the right way. I hope.
For whatever that means. It means something to me.
Smaller By Linda Stowe
