Not Alone

I’ve always had this theory that there’s no one like me out there. This
is not in the boasting, “aren’t I great” way. On the contrary, it’s more
like wondering “what’s wrong with me that there’s no one else like me?”

When I was in Turkey, I could use that as an excuse. Surely, there would
be more people like me in the United States. College would do the trick
for me. After all, people came from all over the world to go to college.
Well college came and went, New York came and went, and I never met
anyone who made me feel like I wasn’t a complete anomaly of a human being.

Until yesterday.

I was at my first ever scrapbooking event and the speaker went on and on
about her life, her approach to things (including scrapping) and I
couldn’t stop thinking how she was a kindred spirit to me. The funny
thing is, on the surface, I’ve met many others who seem to be much more
similar to me: people who love computers, books, writing, or anything
else I like to do. But this woman, she felt like she was similar
to who I am and not what I do.

To be honest, I don’t even know if she really is. I’ve only heard her
give a speech and maybe chatted with her for 30 minutes. We may have
almost nothing in common. But the few words she mentioned were exactly
what I’ve said/felt at times and that’s all I needed to hear for this
“aloneness” to disappear. And pooof! it went.

Amazing how great it feels to let go of something I’ve been carrying
around for over twenty years.