Last night, I had some time on my hands, so I decided to watch the new Pretty Little Liars. Judge me later. During the dramatic break up scene in which the woman leaves her fiancee, her ex husband came to console the ex wife on her new breakup. And as he told her this elaborate story about how he loved her and how amazing she is, he said something somewhat profound for a tween drama on ABC Family.
He said something to the effect of: You don't deserve anyone less than someone who makes you realize just how big this small world really is.
I'm currently living in a college town where eyes are fixed on following the collegiate norm of meeting your true love in college and then getting married after you graduate and living happily ever after. Don't get me wrong. If the right person knocked on the door, I just might open it. If I'm feeling adventurous, I may just have a cup of coffee or a burrito with them. But if you asked me to get married within months after graduating, I would laugh at you.
But then again, I think I have plans most people don't have. I want to spend a year in Abu Dhabi, a year in India, and a year in London. Then, I want to settle in New York for a very long time before I retire to Colorado on top of a mountain in a house that's mostly a library.
Those are just a few locations. But, it's a great big world, and I want to see it all.
And let's be honest, the ex husband had it right. Now, maybe this is because I'm a sap through and through.
I guess you could call me a hopeless romantic too.
I love flowers.
I love surprises.
I love elaborate plans that are ridiculous, yet perfect.
I want to be swept off my feet.
I cry every time I watch Up.
Watching Her reduces me to a blob of tears for about 7,412 reasons.
I love depressing music.
And most importantly, I hate the thought of endings.
Put the thoughts together, and you realize, they don't go together. Joining the idea of a hopeless romantic and traveling the world ends in a paradox. It's a never ending string of questions of whether you travel, meaning you could lose people you hold so dear, or whether you settle and continue dreaming off far off places.
But you don't deserve anyone less than someone who makes you realize just how small this world is.
I'm beginning to learn (or at least trying to wrap my mind around the fact) that maybe these two concepts of polar opposite together. That maybe being a hopeless romantic and a hopeless wanderer are more compatible than imagined. I'm already in love with places I've never been and things I've never seen. I'm infatuated with the idea of new experiences and adventures. I want nothing more than to see the world with my eye pressed to the camera and a journal of adventures close by.
I would like to say there would be someone by my side on these adventures, but I don't know yet.
The thought of doing these adventures alone is frightening, to say the least. And doing something like that alone could mean a lot of goodbyes. But the bottom line is, you don't need anyone in your life who doesn't support your dreams. You don't need anyone in your life who doesn't want you to see just how big this small world is.
And whether you physically are alone in your wandering, it doesn't mean you are alone. Because if someone loves you enough to let you go on your adventure, they want you to see just how big this small world is.
Because they know that when you come back, you'll make their small world bigger.
