The Six People You Meet In Your Twenties
Your twenties are a time of exploration, growth, and change. Your adulthood is beginning, your brain is developing, you are both being and becoming. People sprout like blossoms and are blown about in much the same way, by chance and circumstance. Some go here, some go there, some go everywhere.
Although we embark upon disparate paths, however, some experiences tie us together as human beings. Some things are universal, part of the same fabric that makes up each of our lives. Some things are understood by everyone, regardless of whether you've known them since childhood or you've just crossed paths with them.
These six people that you will meet in your twenties are some of those experiences.
#1: Paige the Memoirist
Paige writes her memoirs. Years ago she wrote with a stylus and scroll, working carefully by daylight. Not so long ago she kept a typewriter and took comfort in the cheerful clickety-clack of its dark keys. Now she uses a computer with a backlit keyboard and basks in its electric glow all through the night.
You'll meet Paige in a café, a bookstore or a waiting room. She'll give you a polite, preoccupied smile. Paige is unfailingly polite, even to people who interrupt her writing, and that's pretty much everyone she meets, so don't worry about it. She won't hold it against you. Paige is a gentle judge, she tends to think the best of everyone. It's a trait that has lent her writing the amiable tone of a late-night confidant. You'll read a little of it when you two shake hands and trade smiles, but only a little; your eye will slip away before you can read much more.
You'll only meet Paige once. You will think that you've seen her green knit hat through the window from time to time, but it will always be someone else.
#2: Ellie In Orbit
Ellie orbits Earth. Sometimes she drifts so low that she can see doll-like cities and playground toy trees below, and dream of dipping her toes in the Atlantic. Sometimes she floats higher, and becomes one with the sunset. Sometimes she floats higher still, and turns her back on us to watch the stars. Her feet never touch the ground.
You will meet Ellie in your dreams, the ones where you break with gravity and go soaring through the sky. You will smile and wave, but say no words. Ellie will return both your smile and your silence. Together you will join hands and coast above the clouds, salute airplanes, and find a kinship with the birds.
Once you wake, your feet will feel doubly heavy, anchored once again to the ground.
You may not remember Ellie, but she will remember you.
#3: Owen And His Fantastic Tattoos
Owen is decorated head-to-toe in tattoos. This will be the first thing you'll notice about him, the interplay of skin and color. Words, shapes, and shadows alike take fantastic form across his body.
The second thing you will notice is that his tattoos never seem to stay the same. They change from image to image and from place to place, always when you've looked away, sometimes as quickly as you can blink. You will never catch these tattoos in motion: they lie innocent atop the skin, just color, just ink. But move they can and move they will.
Tattoos tell a story, Owen will tell you, and like all stories are open to interpretation. What story, he will ask, do they tell you?
#4: Knoblin John
Knoblin John runs a foster home deep in the forest, away from the prying eyes and lights of the city. He takes in wounded and abandoned knoblins and cares for them as his own. His house is wooden, unpainted, and simple. Knoblin John likes it that way. He's a simple man, he is wont to say, a simple man with simple tastes. He will be wearing old jeans when you meet him, and boots. Sometimes he pokes dried flowers into his beard and wears them throughout the day, occasionally pausing to tap one back into place when it slips loose. The knoblins love these flowers. They pull them free and toss them in the air, enchanted by their flight.
You will meet Knoblin John on his porch, and you will watch him carving a piece of wood with his expert hand long before he will look up to greet you. Knoblin John isn't impolite, but he does get absorbed in his work. The knoblins will gaze at you with their dark eyes and cluster close to Knoblin John. They shy away from sunlight, knoblins do, and from strangers.
You will not be a stranger long in Knoblin John's house. You will bring bowls of milk and honey and set them on his doorstep, and one day he'll invite you in. You'll always be careful to leave iron at home, to check your pockets for wayward nails.
#5: The Girl From The Secret Wolf Sanctuary On The Moon
She will wrestle wolves and run with her hair undone. She will howl in accord with the wild things. You will never know her name. Perhaps you couldn't pronounce it anyways.
You will meet her when the moon is full and your heart is broken. She will call you from your place of mourning and surround you with the wolf-pack, the unspoken camaraderie of being. You will run with her, your feet pounding the soil and kicking up dirt, your hair undone as well, your breath coming hard and fast. If only for that one night, you will be feral, you will be at one with the dark and rushing wind, you will find in your silence the beating heart of the wild.
$6: Yourself
What has kept you from meeting yourself? Has it been a stress, an illness, an illusion? Think about this. Really think.
Who are you?
