Down

The other night I was walking to my apartment, alone. I don't know if I always realize I am alone when I am by myself, but at this very moment in time I realized I was alone. There was no one by my side; the closest person was separated by a bricks and drywall. And since I can't look through walls, there was no reason to look at those brick walls. I continued to walk and I looked down and I followed the ground with my eyes. This is not the first time I experienced this moment in my life (call it emotional deja vu). One time in the halls of my high school, a similar scenario unfolded. Except I felt alone in the presence of a few hundred people. Then, a fellow classmate interrupted me counting tiles and said, "Don't be down; look up." In that same moment in the Birch courtyard, I looked up and saw the stars and the vastness of space shrink to my size. And all of a sudden I realized I am not alone.