Yesterday I was sitting in the backseat of a car reading a book. It made me think of that one Peanuts comic where Peppermint Patty and Charlie Brown talk about security. Not the book, the car ride. The book made me think about a lot of other things. Deep thoughts. You know? I looked out the window and saw that the sun was setting. In places where the clouds had parted, sunlight was spilling through like… ugh, I can’t think of a good simile. Let’s just say that the sunlight was reaching through the breaks in the clouds and stretching towards the ground. I looked down and saw the rooftops of houses. All the houses were pretty much the same design and style, but at the same time they were all their own. It was interesting to think about all the people that had lived and died and cried and laughed in those houses that were all the same but different. I looked away and kept reading. I liked reading Justin’s part of the book. You could tell he really liked Via. He had Tourette’s syndrome, or at least he was neurodivergent. He had some tics. I really liked reading the last paragraph or two of his part. The universe takes care of all its birds. That line gave me a chance to pause and look out my window at the sunset, where the sunlight was reaching through the clouds towards the ground, and the roofs of houses that were all different while being the same, and I realized that this was a good time to think about how fragile and temporary life is. Like, this is it, the end. Like, I’m so lucky that I’m not one of so many people that are hurting. Like, we’re all so incredibly lucky that any is us ever had a chance to be on this Earth at all. But then the car stops because we’re at the hotel and the significance of the moment is lost in a flurry of ‘we’re finally at the hotel!’ and ‘did I remember to pack my suitcase?’ and I'm not sure if I'll be able to find that feeling - of wonder, of amazement at the beauty around me that has nothing to do with makeup or faking anything - ever again.
credit to Charles Schulz for Peanuts this concept was conceived as I sat in the car reading Wonder by R. J. Palacio.
