Subatomic Ladybugs

It's been quite the Monday, my lovely internet friends. Quite the Monday.

How are you doing today? Is your week going swell already? Are you stressed to the max? Have you eaten today? Are you sick of questions? Okay, I'll stop.

I know it's late tonight, but as I said before, it's been quite the Monday. This morning, I ran an unofficial 5k in the gym, which was pretty exciting, and after my shower, I high-tailed it to a full day of classes. After not one, but two trips to the library looking for books about Mary Cassatt and after an extremely stressful chemistry lab, I am finally ready to settle into getting the dreaded homework done.

As much as there is to do and things to get done, I don't think I'm quite ready for the semester to be over with yet. As stressful as the schoolwork is, I'm actually really enjoying my classes. In chemistry this morning, we started covering nuclear chemistry, which is my favorite part of both chem and physics. I think it's all fascinating...particles with almost no mass, no surface area, no charge, can cause dramatic changes in the behavior and identity of things. And these teeny, tiny particles have ridiculously large amounts of energy paired with them...tremendously larger amounts of energy than anything else we have covered this far in class.

My friend who sits beside me in that class thinks I'm crazy, but how could you not be amazed that almost nothing can change almost everything? Almost nothing has the power to denature cells, completely changing the shape of these also minuscule objects.  Ah yes, a cheesy analogy to the wonders of life...I feel it coming...oh no...here it is...

Almost nothing can change almost everything. How encouraging is that? We are incredibly small...if you look at the history of life, as you probably have. We are one out of so, so many. We are tiny in a gorgeous universe that extends infinitely far. We are so small compared to what is out there that it's almost unfathomable.

But we make changes everyday. I'm not talking about scientific, universe-altering changes (though those may exist, too), but changes in the people around us. Changes in relationships. Changes in knowledge. Changes in attitudes. We are insignificantly small, but we can also reach across infinite distances to make differences.

I speak from experience. No, I don't really know other people's lives that I have changed...but I know people who have changed mine, who have helped place all these crazy pieces. Individuals, out of the hundreds of people we come into contact with, have the power to help mold us into who we are meant to be.

You may feel small sometimes. You may feel insignificant and tiny, because I know I do. But when you think about it, and you think of the difference you might have made in other people's lives, without even knowing it...it's incredible. Like those tiny, invisible, impossibly small particles, we can cause big changes, across big spaces. And that's encouraging.

So a big thank you to everyone who has made me who I am. My youth pastor in middle school. My teacher that showed me how to love what I was learning. The lady turned my day around at work once with a single word. The person who held the door open for me as rain was pouring down. The person who chased me down to return my phone when I was biking. The person that showed up exactly when I needed them, who became exactly what I needed in a hard time. The people who read my blog even when it rambles.

Thank you. And have an excellent evening, you subatomic ladybugs.