MY MANY WORLDS

I grew up

On side roads

Between farmers’ fields,

Forests, & brooks.

Swinging from barn beams and apple trees,

Chasing after dusty yellow school busses,

And playing make-believe until I was almost too big.

Then life happened,

And my world grew a little bigger.

***

New girl, small town.

Finding my way each day,

As I grew from girl to teen.

Navigating friendship, hardship, high school, heartbreak...

And trying to make every moment count.

Teammates, prom dates,

Moments that shaped me…

Not all good, but some great

Memories to take with me

As I graduated from small-town girl.

And my world grew a little bigger again.

***

Off I went for four years.

To discover who I was and what I wanted out of life.

But when I graduated,

With more questions than answers,

I decided to continue searching for myself elsewhere.

And my world grew bigger still.

***

In the years that followed,

I backpacked through Europe.

I was robbed at gunpoint in Costa Rica.

I surfed in Bali.

I drove across Canada.

I taught in South East Asia.

I lived in Germany.

I packed and unpacked a lot of suitcases.

I boxed and unboxed a lot of bedrooms.

I collected life experiences

That that little girl in bare feet,

Swinging from the apple tree

Only ever imagined.

My world had become so big.

My family now stretched from corner to corner of the globe.

***

And then one day,

In a very special corner,

I met you.

And very gradually, over time,

I gave you my heart and you gave me yours.

Mine was quite dusty and barely used,

And yours was in need of some repair…

But we learned how to manage together.

And we decided to travel through life together,

Just the two of us.

Until the world grew bigger one more time.

***

Now two has become three,

And our little one has become the best part

Of our many worlds.