Minor Things Like Breaking the Law

Possibly, I just broke the law in front of a cop. I mean- I was standing on the side of the road waiting for the cars to run into the inevitable red light; their waiting was my opening. I stepped out into the street and turned to see a cop smiling out of his window at me, jaywalking. I smiled back- ’This is minor’, my smile says. ’If you turn at this light, you’ll see that I also parked mostly on a painted curb.’ Just barely, though. And I crossed the street only thirty feet away from a crosswalk. This is minor.

Today I let my hair go curly and it feels good to embrace the natural. I smell like shampoo instead of styling products. I look carefree instead of polished. Josh Groban is playing on the radio here in this cafe and I’m smiling behind these pillowy curls. I ate all the strawberries in the fruit cup and the grapes all rolled into eachother. Writer’s often describe grapes as gregarious- or maybe they’re describing people who grow together and huddle together? Anyhow, the small things are all metaphors.

If you’d like to know something about the way I treat people- know this. When I shop for bananas, I don’t look for the most yellow or green or firm. I find the bananas that are all by themselves- people pick up groups, think ’Ah, one too many here!’ and that banana is returned. I am the person to pick up four or five solitary bananas and bag them and take them all home together. No body describes bananas as gregarious and that’s a shame. They’re sunnier than grapes, no? But it’s a minor thing.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that the people in my life have moved me. My roommate says ’Let’s go to New York soon!’ and my best friend calls and says ’Let’s meet in DC tomorrow!’ I check the mail and there is a package from a dear friend in Austin who has gone out of her way to have something made for me. My dad calls me daily, even if I don’t need it. Ilya teaches me how to love all over again. It’s not just about bananas and chatty grapes- the minor things that make me smile. This is about the big picture that I am falling in love with.