NPR - Cereal Box Reading

An old friend from work who retired a few years before I did wrote to me to say she found my Website and spent some time wandering around and reading some of the columns. She said it reminded her of breakfast reading with coffee. I responded that in part it's what I intended, cereal box reading. You know when you're at the table and want something to read, so you pick up the closest thing, which is often the cereal box. And you find yourself reading it for a short while before realizing you're reading a cereal box?

I loved her answer which is exactly what I intend. I just want to write on the small things I see in life, the things that take a few minutes to read but stick with your for awhile, and just maybe down the road of life, you remember it to rethink something else you saw, heard or read. Or maybe something you think about later along with the thought you read to pursue it a little more. Or just maybe something to make you smile about the world and life.

That's all, nothing more and nothing less. Just wanderings in life today. You see if you put a group of people in a room, most will gravitate to each other to talk about their situation, their lives, or anything else. Some will wander into corners and be quiet. I'm one of those who'll watch the group for awhile, but while stilling listening I'll wander to the window to look out at the world. I like to see what's going outside.

And I'm one of the people who like being alone. I wander through life engaging people as it happens, but 90% of the time I like being alone. My photography and other things keep me quite busy, and I, unlike many people, don't need other people continually around me to make me feel alive and a part of the world.

And this affords me the time to observe, photograph, and think out loud (to myself of course until I write it down on the Web). It's my nature which runs in the family. It's well written about in Anneli Rufus' book A Party of one. Many people who have advanced our world and lives are loners, so it's normal to be one, much against the media's stupid diatribe against them.

And even when standing in line, a loner can be extroverted for the short time you're waiting for your latte. You see, we still like to engage the world and people, it's just we're comfortable with ourselves that company is a choice than a necessity. It's different than the media mistakenly portrays "loners" when in fact those people were angry from rejection, their life, or events in the world.

Anyway, I couldn't resist the laugh at the cereal box reading thought.