So first off I have to apologize for my noticeable absence recently. I’ve been without a computer since mid-August and am working on a borrowed laptop until Dell decides to ship my new one. Add to this the stress of senior year and college-searching, and you’ll get the explanation for my sudden AWOL status on GHQ. I thoroughly apologize for this and am glad to be back, although I’m sure that all the great posts from our other bloggers have more than made up for my absence:)

Speaking of the stress of the college-search process, I find myself at the beginning of my post for today. This afternoon my mother and I decided to go out to lunch to discuss my applications, college visits, etc. A few minutes after sitting down, a cute curly-haired guy probably in his early twenties was seated a few booths away from us. After a bit, I started to notice that he was glancing around nervously and had randomly left his table a few times. When he came back, he resumed fidgeting alone at his booth. I whispered to my mother that I thought he might be strung out on something, and she contemplated that he might just be a little crazy.

Now, before I go any further I should explain that I work at a coffee shop that receives a lot or crazy and/or lonely customers. And I’ve found that few things depress me more than someone who’s a little out of it in one way or another coming into the cafe at 10:30, ordering a cup of hot chocolate and sitting at a table alone until closing time. So seeing this endearingly sad-looking boy sitting by himself in what appeared to be not a totally sound state of mind just got to me in a way I can’t quite explain. I couldn’t quite help watching him as I fiddled with my soda straw, wondering what was going on in his mind. I thought to myself how cruel it is that some people can be so alone in the world, how sad it is that some people just pull on their shoes and go to lunch alone on Columbus Day.

My string of saddening thoughts were suddenly interrupted as I noticed the young man smiling and giving a wave at something behind me. Just then a very pretty girl, probably in her early twenties, walked by my table and and sat down across from the curly-haired boy. They smiled at each other in a familiar way, and a gentle wave of relief seemed to wash over the boy’s face. Then they both picked up their menus and started talking in that sweetly shy I’m-just-getting-to-know-you sort of way. And all of a sudden I felt incredibly dumb, as I realized that the boy had simply been waiting for his date. I looked at my phone and saw that the time was 12:10. I laughed to myself as it occurred to me that the date had probably been set for noon, and the guy had been getting nervous when the girl hadn’t showed up on time. He wasn’t crazy or on drugs, he simply had been afraid of getting stood up. Meanwhile, his date was just lost or running late or something.

Suddenly, I just felt ridiculously happy at the simplicity of everything. Here I was thinking about how sad life is, when in reality everything was just as it should be. I looked around at all the families laughing together, an elderly couple and their granddaughter eating sundaes, the boy and his date smiling at each other. Amidst all this was the sound of James Blunt’s beautiful song “High” playing, and everything just seemed perfect. It’s funny how your perception of a situation can so greatly impact your outlook on life. Seeing this twitchy guy, I’d automatically assumed the worst when in fact his situation was the exact opposite. Sitting there, I couldn’t help but think that the world really is a beautiful place if you let it be. Things tend to be a lot better than we realize, and life goes on, constantly changing. Maybe if we all altered our outlook a little, we could fully appreciate the beauty all around us that we never really see.

I feel a little corny saying all this, partly because it makes me feel like Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye (minus the nervous breakdown and subsequent commital to a mental institution.) In the last chapter of the book, the main character is watching his sister Phoebe on the Central Park carousel and is suddenly overwhelmed by the beauty of life, saying “I felt so damn happy all of a sudden, the way old Phoebe kept going around and around. I was damn near bawling, I felt so damn happy, if you want to know the truth. I don’t know why. It was just that she looked so damn nice, the way she kept going around and around, in her blue coat and all. God, I wish you could’ve been there.”