Lately I’ve been taking afternoon walks to free my mind of creative restraint or to just breath in the fresh air. It’s a change that I’ve welcomed, even if my legs don’t always thank me for it.

Instead of just taking in the sights around me I’m also beginning to listen more, paying close attention to the sounds of nature and the partial conversations I pick up on while on my walk.

Since we live in a village (with a population of less than 5,000), small talk carries itself through the walls of homes, in meeting hot spots like the park or the local supermarket and you’re always bound to run into someone you know.

It’s a lot like Cheers, where everyone knows your name or at least your family name.

On my most recent stroll through the village I noticed a fellow standing on the street corner in front of a Mom & Pop diner. He looked about in his 50s, but with all of his hair still intact and I kid you not, his attire consisted of a tank top, shorts and dress shoes. He was yelling to a friend across the street, who nonchalantly continued on his way until he noticed his loud companion.

They both laughed, one teasing the other and I moved on. You might see this kind of thing in everyday life, to you it might even be mundane or commonplace.

For someone like me who has tendency to extrapolate the small stuff, which works to my benefit and sometimes just the opposite, these kinds of occurrences are important for a few reasons.

One, that life really is like a play and there are patterns that we all recognize and become used to. There’s no special formula to observation, you either pay attention to details or you don’t. I’ve been informed by people that small occurrences in life like two guys meeting on the street aren’t worth remembering or mentally archiving.

Yet, life is an experience. It’s more than just a few months strung into years, it’s moments and memories and everything else.

When someone lets you know that their child stood up for the very first time, you might be interested for a moment and then together your reactions don’t align. For the parent of the child, this is monumental, a milestone in the growth and development of their child.

To you, even if you might be related, that same feeling the parent had isn’t what you are feeling because it may not be as important. We’ve got to keep track of a lot of information, this may not deserve a folder in the storage of our minds.

I might be a special case because I can selectively recall things/thoughts/occurrences that happened years ago. Most of these moments in time would’ve been long forgotten by most, but I hang onto things that might have made a difference to me.

Even if that means not having the same emotional attachment as the person who delivered the message or the guy yelling at his friend across the street, it’s something I cherish.

The only downside is my short-term memory leaves something to be desired. Recalling memories from years ago is no problem (in some cases), but there are times when I remind myself of something and moments later the memory or reminder only partially remains.