As I headed down the steps of the New York City subway, blindly following the lead of a public transportation expert, I was caught up in the unforeseeable germs and foreseeable chaos in the underground tunnels. I followed him onto multiple trains, trusting that he knew the way to the beautiful Citi Field from where we stood.
While waiting and observing, I took note of the people around me. As many times as I have been to the Big Apple, I always catch myself wondering how so many people grow up, live and/or settle there. I am a small town girl who knows big backyards and backroads, not shared apartment buildings and city blocks. However, I began to admire the way these New Yorkers can go about their daily lives in a place where not many people know their names.
On the final long, crowded train, a young couple, maybe around 18 years old, made their way in front of me. For some reason, aside from the fact they were almost on top of me, they caught my attention. The girl was short, wearing a ragged, white tank top and shorts, leaning on the boy. Both of them were laughing and whispering to each other in Spanish. Soon after, they stopped and she began to fall asleep on his shoulder. Before their stop was called, the boy was helping her read the advertisements in front of her. It seemed like he was trying to help her learn and fully understand English, one word at a time.
After (creepily) watching this couple, I wondered about them. I wondered how long they have been together, and how long they will date. Am I just catching a glimpse of their lifelong relationship? Or, am I standing on a subway with a couple just starting, what will be, a love they will always remember? Are they so affectionate because they were fighting? Or, are they always this in love?
There was something so beautiful about those two unapologetically living in the presence of hundreds of unknown faces.
That is when I realized that sometimes you need to be thrown in the midst of the chaotic mess of people living their own lives in the same place at the same time.
To me, riding for five hours to New York City was somewhat out-of-the-ordinary and part of an adventure. To the majority on those streets and trains, it was just an average Friday. I stumbled around the very steps that the group of girls stumble up after a long night out at the bars on their way home. I sat next to a man that was falling asleep, obviously comfortable with the hum of the train's wheels on the tracks and the random screeches of the brakes.
Being dropped into someone else's comfort zone is actually a beautiful thing.
A couple that I know nothing about, taking the 7 train, convinced me that we cross paths with strangers on this Earth for a reason. All we need to do is open our eyes.
