Have you ever had an experience and while in the midst of that experience you felt like it was going to be super difficult to replicate it. I recently had just that kind of experience. It happened while walking through a very small North Carolina town during a three day escape from city life. It felt at every moment different, delicious and wow all wrapped onto one. The place was so small but almost too much for me to take in all at once. It was those most simplest of things that left me motionless, tearful even. This town had something I needed in those moments. This town had a happy by design feeling about it. Everyone I passed seemed in no real hurry to be anywhere. They greeted one another with real interest, real smiles and as if those momentary connections they were making with one another were their real oxygen that day. Nothing fake about this small town. Nothing made up either. This small place had such an authentic purpose about it. That purpose as I experienced it was about connection. Did I mention everyone seemed to know one another? They called each other by name, asked about neighbors and friends, even made plans to reconnect later that day or during the week. I could not help but ease drop. I felt like what I was hearing was something I have been been missing.
Can you imagine living like this? Being in no real hurry. Living a life where people are more important than things. A life full of little moments of truth, not a sprint toward some uncertain future. Wow! I am rooting for this small town. No doubt in my mind they saw me as someone just passing through. I will be forever grateful for my temporary respite from my much too busied life. I won't soon forget this town's warm and welcoming spirit and character.
I wanted to yell, "I want some of this! I need some of this in my life!" But that would have been much too city slicker behavior. So for now, I will lean on my memory and try with all my might to find that feeling again upon my return to other side of my life at home.
Can you imagine living like this? Being in no real hurry. Living a life where people are more important than things. A life full of little moments of truth, not a sprint toward some uncertain future. Wow! I am rooting for this small town. No doubt in my mind they saw me as someone just passing through. I will be forever grateful for my temporary respite from my much too busied life. I won't soon forget this town's warm and welcoming spirit and character.
I wanted to yell, "I want some of this! I need some of this in my life!" But that would have been much too city slicker behavior. So for now, I will lean on my memory and try with all my might to find that feeling again upon my return to other side of my life at home.
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