Little Moments
Thinking about life alterations, i put them into building blocks. The small moments…as life altering as the big moments. Why? These small moments prepare us for how we react to these big life alterations. Or how we act in our daily life: our moods, our routines, our self-love. I think about my friend Bryce’s example when i asked him about his favorite small moments in his life…he would eat at the same Arby’s each time he’d come to Monticello from a long week of study at UK. Or my friend Randy’s story about taking a weekend trip to the beach with his buddy after getting out of class early at WKU. Maybe even the story Dad told me about riding his bike as a kid in a long hallway of one of his families first homes. Let me tell you about some of my little moments…and think about some of your favorites today.
The college experience for me, though i didn’t know it at the time, was the end of my innocence. Before bills, before providing for others, etc…there was a time where my main worry was where my friends and i were going to get breakfast that day (those friends all being from the same hometown). This time was full of small moments that make me, me. This was a time where learning to make oatmeal in the microwave was my crowning achievement (thanks Sam). Or where instead of doing that assignment that really needed to be done…you chatted with 10 of your best friends in a dorm room about who knows what. How about the time where we got snowed in and all watched Hateful Eight in the dorm? We also, in that same snowstorm, strapped an air mattress down to Hyther’s Ford Focus with shoe strings to go sledding at the top of the hill. These were simpler times. These were good times. Callie and i had lots of sweet experiences in that town. I remember vividly us taking a walk through Keriakes Park after having some good food at a place called Burger+Bowl. I could’ve proposed right then if i would’ve had the ring. I remember being an RA, and staying up all night while on call…just to leave the building around 4AM (as soon as i was allowed to leave), and go running. I’d run by Krispy Kreme and smell the fresh donuts being baked right as they’d open. I’d see the early commuters and night shift closers…never knowing I’d be in a similar position just a couple years later. That town broke me down and built me up by the time i had to move on from it. I’m thankful for it, and the times i had with my now wife and friends there. Miss you all.
A little moment in time worth talking about: lunch table discussions. When’s the last time you were forced to sit with people and converse? Yes, you sit at lunch at work, or you sit around a campfire with friends…but lunch table discussions were different. Here, you’d talk about everything from what was on your plate that day, to how you were going to become a billionaire by 25. All before you go back to class and share the common experience of the grind of being a high schooler (or what we thought was a grind). Now some of these guys live out of state, work in the medical field, have kids. I hope they enjoyed the little moments at the lunch table too.
Another little moment that lives in my head: Cal and i coming home from school in a snowstorm so we wouldn’t get stuck in Bowling Green. I dropped Callie off at home, just to get home, and send my car sliding through the front yard because of the ice (sorry Dad). It didn’t matter, we ended up getting the sleds out and going up and down the hill till around midnight. A simpler time.
How about the COVID ERA? How many of us have little memories from this? It was a big moment, where the small memories made it what it was. I remember staying up till 3 AM playing video games every night, but one memory sticks out. Ben Vickery plays “Fade Into You” by Mazzy Star over the mic. In that moment, everyone (about 10 people in a PlayStation Party) just kind of went silent and listened. I don’t know about for the others, but in that moment, i just let it hit me that life was never going to be the same. That we weren’t going back to school. That it was time to grow up. I would later (4:00 AM kind of later) go ride my bike around the neighborhood listening to “Biking” by Frank Ocean. This was right before we all met up at Walmart for the last time we’d see each other in public for two months.
Rylan and i would go and support local business at Happy Hopper’s Coffee, we’d drive, play video games. Anything to take our mind off of the craziness around us. Things were quieter then. I remember eating El Cazador take out, and helping the delivery driver from Kroger bring our groceries to the door. The day was filled with the fulfillment of tasks that i would describe as some of these “little moments.”
Now there are these little moments. The long hug i get from my wife after a 16 hour work day. Getting to see my little brother almost every day now that we’re living with my family while we wait to be able to move. Waving to my Grandparents across the yard as they finish their new home. I’m thankful for these little moments. They make me who i am. They ground me. They make me realize that this is all real…and that all of this matters. Thank you Jesus for allowing me the little moments.