Smaller Than Expected

It didn’t look much, nothing like she’d expected, smaller, more insignificant. She had the life now that she’d always thought she wanted, but when – like now – she turned to look back at it, it seemed like hardly anything at all. It seemed so small against the size of the world, insignificant when put up against the size of the universe, but she knew one time it had seemed that it would be enough to fill her own world, her own universe.

Her friends, those she had known all her life, all said how jealous they were of her; they had long known of her dreams her ambitions. She had told them all of her dream job, her dream husband, her dream family, her dream life, as they had all told her of theirs. Now, for her it had come true, and all those friends said how happy they were for her, and she – in turn – said how convinced she was that one day they too would have all they ever dreamed of, too.

Now, though, here she was suitcase in hand, closing the door on that life and setting her shoulders to walk away from it all. She had discovered that the only thing worse than dreams that don’t come true, are dreams that do come true – for after that you are left with nothing to look forward to. So she set off down that cold early-morning street to begin her search for something new.