Meaning the very opposite of what it sounds like.

Let me explain. The phrase “my world” usually means the world in which you live. The actual spaces you inhabit. It also means the day to day experiences you encounter. So I inhabit the world of my neighborhood, my community, my school (workplace), my city, state, and nation. I also inhabit the world of mom of a college student, fourth grade teacher, suburbanite, dog mom, fiancée, blogger, and more.

We all inhabit multiple worlds.

Those worlds, however, aren’t what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the great big wide world which I mostly haven’t seen or visited. I certainly haven’t inhabited it. But I do welcome it, and I do claim it.

I claim it because it is as much mine as it is anyone’s. It belongs to all or us and none of us. It is our big wide world, and I’m glad you’re in it with me.

There are eyes on my words around this planet we inhabit. Someone in South Africa reads my words, and shares her thoughts. Another in the Bahamas shares the experience of raising a young man, and we have a bond. We feel connected because something larger than each of us is at play. We may or may not have anything in common, but somehow you’ve found me, and I find that particularly marvelous, so I want to shout from the rooftoop, Welcome, Welcome to you all!