culturedliving

New York City, 2008:

My name is Sophie. There was a point in my life when I believed that love did not exist. I would have liked to believe in it very much, but it’s presence in my life had been that of absence. Every man I have ever known has made me suffer in some way, but finally there is hope. I believe that my story is that of love, fate, and consequences, and the sadness that ensues when you abandon yourself for the ideals of love.
It was an even year of new beginnings; my first year at university, the election of two minorities running. So many things were changing in front of my eyes. The world was becoming unbearably out of control. Nascent things were sprouting from everywhere with every blinking eye, left to float in the air among all the people walking the crowded sidewalks. I didn’t realize it then, but 2008 was a monumental year, not only in the history of the world, but the history of me.

Life is a funny and strange thing. It’s a collection of random events and thoughts put into action. Recently I realized just how important chance is in one’s life. A little less than a week ago I inadvertently started a chain of events that will remain with me for a lifetime. I have been blessed in many ways, my aunt has selflessly offered me a place in her home being completely altruistic and expecting nothing from me in return for all her generosity. As I began my break out on a slow start, I decided that I had to explore and experience the city that I had dreamed of living in from an early age. I decided to call a recently discovered friend, Kim. The day started out average enough; we met up and began eating lunch in my favorite place, Whole Foods. As we walked outside of the store with no itinerary about to wander, Kim’s ears caught the sound of an accented group of boys searching for direction after being lost in this city, my city. Spontaneously I asked her if she would like to talk to them, and her sharing in my adventurous heart quickly, with no precaution, conceded to an adventure, unknowingly we were about to involve ourselves in.
We’re all bound here with something to accomplish in our lives. For me that is to accept myself for who I am and will always be, and not allow my own perception to put up limits, whether it be what I can intellectually accomplish, or the people I allow myself to meet. I have learned to be open to everything, and who you are, not what you look like, should dictate all your relationships.

It started out as an innocent meeting of two groups; random strangers wandering the vast streets of New York whom happen to encounter one another. Walt Whitman wrote it best when he said that people in New York meet and fall in love within a matter of seconds in passing. This is perhaps the most valid statement I have ever heard in my entire life, and most definitely applicable to my current situation.

They needed help, and we were most willing to offer it to a group of cute young English boys, take that as you will but I guarantee most will agree, shallow or not I see now that it was exactly the decision I should have made at that moment. To be in the right place at the right time is one of the greatest and most fulfilling moments any individual may experience.

Seeing that we had no plans that day, anywhere they wanted to go we were willing to take them there. At first I saw the group collectively, not specifically singling any one of them out in my mind. They had asked where all the shops were, explaining that in England everything was more together and less confusing. Already I had experienced something spectacular, something I had craved for my entire life; the exchange of information with a different culture. It was more than that though, these boys were my age, making everything relevant in there lives at the time quite in sync with my own. As we began walking I put up that wall of absolute shyness that I had always used to veil myself with, ever since I was a child I would build walls. Walls around myself to keep others out, to protect myself from the harm I had preconceived they intended me, but those walls started to disintegrate with the phrase, “Hi, I’m Ian,” and from there I felt a connection that I will never want to lose or give up. With his kind voice and soft eyes I was the one who quickly became lost.

Quickly we became separated from the group discussing everything. He was instantly able to capture something in me that I had kept hidden from others for so many years; and that was my trust. We walked to a coffee shop down the street and we all sat down and became more comfortable with our surroundings as well as each other. The conversations richly poured as the two groups united together celebrating our differences. Ian sat across the table. After a few minutes Dylan received a phone call from one of their mates back at the Hostel who had become worried seeing as they had been out wandering around aimlessly for hours. The phone was passed to Ian after everyone had tried to calm him down, and Ian did exactly that, he calmed him in a way that was absolutely artistic. His ability to be so serene awed me, and I knew I had a tremendous amount to learn from this master in the arts of what I had been lacking in my life. While he was talking to him on the phone, Tom is his name; he never lost my eye contact, from across the table the connection remained. I remember him saying “Don’t worry about us Tom, we were lost but now we’re fine. Thank God we found these girls to help us out,” and then with a wink directed at me my heart was captured.

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