Unexpected Dominos

I have not walked this world for long, but I already get nostalgic sometimes. When that happens I find myself zooming out and seeing the entire distance traveled. Like a pinball, I’ve ricocheted ever so gracefully into something unexpected and new multiple times. One peculiar thing has suddenly occurred to me when I sit back and examined my life this time.

The things that have altered my life the most, whether it be people, events, things, I have always been perceived them at the time to be of nothing special or of no significance. Furthermore, the things that I have thought would be the biggest life changers, pivotal steps, or events have ended up being only small breezes that never really made any difference. So as I move along in my life, I have given a name to these small, profound things.

I call them dominos.

Reason for that is because I never learned how to play dominos, so that makes them practically meaningless to me. In fact, when I think of the word Domino, I think of either pizza, Keira Knightley. They’re just placeholders for things, kind of how economists will use the word “Widget”, they can represent anything. I like referring to them as dominos because when assembled to be knocked down, they always lead to something. They contribute to a picture, they travel a distance, they represent the plunge.

Occasionally, these dominos will show up in my life like little easter eggs here and there, or sometimes in the background out of focus. They’re off to the side standing upright, like the Monolith in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Many times I miss them and I nothing ever happens. If I ever find one and focus on it, I normally can never identify it specifically as that and my actions toward it have always been mostly apathetic. On rare occasions, I have had a sudden feeling of curiosity come over me that made me desire to tip it over. That’s all that the domino asks, is the smallest push, like a gleaming red button asking to be pressed. Forcibly shifting the scene from poetic calm, to chaotic action.

Little did I know that these dominos were filled with almost limitless potential akin to atomic fusion. That falling domino hits another, and another, and another. Leading to panic, that panic is the initial reaction of being brought out of my comfort zone.

In the end, it’s always worked out quite beautifully. It has led to things I will probably hold on to for the rest of my existence. The smallest things may appear to be only a single domino, but when tipped, it may be the beginning of the change in everything. You never know what will turn into a domino, so be on the lookout.