enJOY it

I talk about my two worlds a lot.

How they rarely collide.  How I am not sure how I would handle things if they did.

One world is home.  Sacramento.  High school.  The fam.  The girls.

The other world is SC.  Los Angeles.  The Row.  The Phi.  The girls.

In both worlds I work and play, eat and drink.  Only with different people.  In both worlds I try to be funny, try to be nice and try to not be awkward.  Only with different people.  The two worlds feel completely separate from one another.  Like the people in World I cannot understand World II.  And vice versa.

So right.  That is what I thought.

Until I was biking today.  And I saw a guy in a black t-shirt on a bike.  And I recognized his Rio Americano senior shirt before I recognized that he was Robbie.  And we stopped our bikes.  And we chatted.  And then we rode on.

And as I was biking away I realized that even though Ro and I are in the same place, we are no longer in each other’s world.  We are in our own "post-home" worlds.

Which means the worlds have nothing to do with location.  My worlds are separated not by the state of California but by growth.  By experience.  By moving on.  And I do not have to worry about the worlds colliding.  Not really.  Because who I am came from World I.  It is being developed by World II.  It will continue to be shaped through World XII.  Which I imagine will begin the day I see my granddaughter at her first USC football game.

Edited to add:  I just rediscovered this quote:

"We do not grow absolutely, chronologically.  We grow sometimes in one dimension and not in another; unevenly.  We grow partially.  We are relative.  We are mature in one realm, childish in another.  The past, present and future mingle and pull us backward, forward or fix us in the present.  We are made up of layers, cells, constellations."  -Anais Nin.

That, my friends, is EXACTLY what I mean about my two worlds.