Passing Ships: A Life

if your environment allows, play this song while reading for a more immersive experience...

When the Passing Ships Challenge - inspired by Cheryl E Preston's brilliance, thoughtfulness, and creativity - was announced on Vocal, I did an inner backflip for joy.

A challenge about the small moments of life!? A challenge that highlights how single-serving interactions can be deeply meaningful!? A challenge that demonstrates how seemingly glancing 'chance' meetings can change the entire course of one's life!? I could have an entry per day! I live for the small moments!

My inner dialogue (^) sometimes uses more exclamation marks than F. Scott Fitzgerald would approve of. But you know what else he wouldn't approve of? Ending a sentence with a preposition. Get off me, F. Scott.

(Yea! Get off me, F. Scott! And you, too, Terry Pratchet!!!!! At least Tom Wolfe gets me...)

Once I stuck the landing on my inner backflip and punctuated it with a sky punch on the final climactic chord of my inner soundtrack (thanks for your hard work all these years, Hans Zimmer, Jeremy Soule, Ramin Djawadi, Howard Shore, John Williams, and so many more...), I clicked that magic button:

My fingers hovered over the keys, awaiting what I knew would be an avalanche of tiny moments, all profound in their way... Which one would I write first?

...

... ...

... ... ...

huh.

And then:

As I stood in awe at the foot of my tidal wave, I realized something I had not expected:

My entire life was tiny moments.

Don't get me wrong, I knew I had a lot of them. But I didn't realize it was all of them.

In the photo above (actual footage from my mind's eye in this moment), every drop of water in that wave are individual moments.

"Your mother probably didn't love you enough as a child and that's why you're like this."

"I've never met anyone like you. You make me feel so seen. Like I matter. I've never felt like I mattered before."

"Why don't you go play deep right field. Keep going. I'll tell you when to stop."

"Hi, I'm Matt. I just moved here from Florida."

"Come on, buddy! That's not how you vacuum the carpet."

"The dolphins are swimming with you!?"

"No, you can't have soda, it's bad for you and we can't afford it."

"You were on fire tonight! Your last 3-pointer!? I've never screamed so loud in my life."

"You've been playing video games for seven hours."

"I just laughed so hard I farted."

"Honey, go to sleep. You have school in the morning. Why are you still up reading?"

"How do you remember all of those lines?"

"If you hadn't called when you did, I..."

"You won't! Sure, someone will, but it won't be you."

"You just stopped yourself from being sick until you were out of my car. How did you do that? Also, thank you for not throwing up in my car."

"Don't go into this business. You have to have a backup plan."

"Have you ever heard of the book, 'The Secret'?"

"But you can't move to New Zealand, it's just too far."

"We're moving to Los Angeles!"

"That's not love. She's too much older than you."

"Who are you?"

"Ok, that was great, thanks. We'll get back to you if you're a good fit."

"Hi, I'm Harry. How comfortable are you driving a yacht?"

"Are you done with her? Because, honestly, she was wrong to date you. Like, gross."

"Your work saved me $2.12 million dollars."

"You're done. I can't believe you."

"Uhhh... we should probably go in. You've been getting your ass kicked by a Pacific thunderstorm for forty-five minutes. HOW ARE YOU STILL SMILING?"

"You paddle with the wave, then you just stand up!"

"At Equinox, we're better than you, and we know it!"

"I'm Will, by the way. Do you think we should actually play frisbee now? Or just sit on the sideline and talk for another hour?"

"Hey. Yea, I'm glad you called. Listen... can we talk?"

"Welcome to the bathroom, sir!"

"Hi Tony, I thought you'd like to know. Alan was killed in a plane crash last night."

"You're the one friend from that era who actually meant it. Everyone else is gone."

"Could you please block my family on your social media? Thanks."

"Hi, I'm April."

"If I'm starting a new chapter career-wise anyway, why not start a new chapter geographically as well! Colorado, here we come."

Each one of these moments is tied to a million other tiny moments... so many of them non-verbal.

But they're all tethered to one another... woven together to create this... Great Wave.

So, how could I write about just one? If I picked one, the context I would have to share with you would be... tsunamic.

In order to convey the impact and significance of that small smirk in the corner of her mouth...

the exact pitch and tenor of his disappointed exhale...

the irrational number of variables that had to symphonize in order for me to not-die that day at the rock quarry...

I would have to tell you everything else...

everything else that empowered that smirk to conjure butterflies in my stomach...

everything else that armed that exhale with authority to command me to hate myself...

everything else that charged that day with the golden electricity of nostalgic immortality.

And then I realized:

This - the Passing Ships Challenge - has created one of the exact moments the challenge is requesting.

I almost missed it.

I have looked at my life as a complete, continuous, uninterrupted series of little moments before.

But I've never let myself feel it like this... allowed that Great Wave to break over me... flip me, tumble me, toss me... and finally, carry me. Support me. Uplift me.

I almost missed it.

If it weren't for this Challenge, I may never have experienced this insight into the nature of Life so viscerally.

All connected. All one. All a Great Wave.

***

This story was written for the Vocal “Passing Ships” Challenge, which prompts writers to “Write about a seemingly small moment in your life that ended up having a big impact.” You can find out more and enter your story, here:

Thank you for taking the time to read my story. If you enjoyed it, please leave a heart, and I'm always grateful for any feedback in the comments.