A Snippet of Existence

The air feels alive. After escaping the musty confines of the plane, I was greeted by crisp January air that, somehow, felt like the middle of spring. After two days of chill, I was pleasantly surprised one morning by the warm rays of a sun that had been hiding for what felt like eons.

Basking in that gold light, the beauty of my surroundings struck me as I was introduced to my new home in its pre-spring glory. Bees flitted around, landing on little purple flowers a quarter the size of my smallest fingernail. As my manicured fingers brushed the bush that housed them, a few blossoms fell to the ground below — their fragility only deepening the beauty of the scene.

Sitting in the center of the busy quad, I am constantly aware of conversations between people I may never meet again, of bikes and skateboards whizzing past, and of a steady breeze carrying a faint herbed scent through the air. The bright azure sky is peppered with whorls of clouds that drift lazily but never block the sun, letting me bask in its warmth.

I wish I could freeze this moment in time — me, sitting in solitude yet surrounded by a world humming with life; me, letting my worries dissolve as I soak in a fragment of existence that will forever be imprinted on my soul.