The Moon-Landing
It may seem small and insignificant to some. It actually even was, a simple walk, a small step, a simple action to a place everyone has seen and some may not even care about. But to me, it meant the world. It does not matter if you have travelled the world or have barely left the country... There are trips that scar you in the most positive way ever; in that way were you just want to show the world that scar and brag about how you got it.
I have made sure the world knows that I love running, coffee and Apple... That day, everything else seemed secondary, not because I had accomplished my life's goal, but because this particular one seemed out of reach for so long. And me... ME?! I had accomplished it. Let me put it into perspective. I saw my first Mac when I was in school and was mesmerized, I bought my first Apple product when I travelled to Pasadena, California for the first time; I wasn't very much into the brand, just the product (iPod nano) caught my eye and I thought I would give it a try as so many others had. And the rest is history... I have read up and through bibliography have gotten a pretty decent idea of the leader, boss, parent, husband and person Steve Jobs was. I love people with flaws because if they're not perfect, I can be just as imperfect as them one day or maybe even better.
After I fell for the brand and ideology behind Apple I remember watching videos online of the absurdly exciting cues outside of Apple retail stores to buy the new iPhone, or the new product in general when it was a process of standing in line with hundreds and thousands of fans of this life changing product. It did not seem real, I looked acted out, like a good movie. Specially the Fifth Avenue Apple Store... I found myself becoming obsessed with that store as if it meant more than any of the other stores to me personally.
I wished I could be one of those crazy people who would stand in line hours and hours just to get the new iPhone or iPod or iPad or whatever, but to feel the excitement around and be part of that organism of Apple freaks like me or maybe even more... Laugh all you want, it is a true story. Watching all the product launch videos they would play at the keynotes every year would make the more than 40 face muscles necessary to smile... smile.
Finally, there I was... In New York, walking towards fifth avenue. I could see it at a distance, and to make it even more dramatic, it was at night and the Apple logo shined as bright as any full moon you can recall. Crazy? yes. Dramatic? maybe. But I could not stop smiling, it was January and yes it was cold as hell outside... Whatever, the day had come, like a motivational commencement speech at university, this was the moment where I needed to be to be certain, my madness was not just imagination, that this endeavor of reading books, watching movies, documentaries, keynotes, etc. Was all for something.
A small step in appearance, a huge leap in reality. I have no idea why this beautiful building seemed so out of reach to me before and even when at the store... But I felt immortal, all powerful, inspired, motivated. It was a big step on my ongoing road to success... trust me, somehow it is.
Appreciate what you conquer in life, be it as small as a test at school or as big as a degree at university. Because every 5 or 10 or 21 or 42 kilometer race is made of thousands of meters that each count just as much as the previous and as much as the next... And even when you feel the first and the last are the most important, if you appreciate every kilometer or mile you manage to add to your life...
You will find out why sometimes
the whole is larger than the sum of its parts
