The Winter Of My Friends
The waves. I remember their sound. Their lulling and soft, breathy crashing on August afternoons reminds me of entire cities and armfuls of friends that have gone by the wayside.
We come into each other's lives for an instant - for a brief, flitting flyspeck of time.
Some of us live lives of regret - wishing for something that we cannot grasp, or trying to steer something that we don't control.
And there is hurt. Sometimes, we find ourselves in spots that we know we should get out of - but it's so much easier and less energy-consuming to just stay. We exhale, we shrug...and we stay. But in a way, we die inside and we don't even realize it.
Others find themselves in prisons that they have formed out of their own errors and their own judgment upon themselves - and even though they have the keys to free themselves - they choose to stay locked up.
Some of us are lonely, and although there could be ways to be less lonely, we intentionally put up walls because it's easier to become a hardened shut-in than it is to adapt, learn and dive into the shifting tides of the world around us.
I don't pretend to have any cosmic answers - but I am starting to find some peace amidst the rolling thunder of the storm that surrounds us.
We can never, ever let regret be our motivator - regret is only based in the past.
We are enrolled in the class of the present tense, and that's all we need to immerse ourselves in at the moment. The mind can only take so much.
Let your loved ones know that you do, in fact, love them. Don't wait for that wistful tomorrow moment that never comes.
Make yourself smile. You'll be amazed at how much better your face feels afterwards.
Build your network. Know who they are. Don't wait for the storm until you start reaching for the oars of your boat.
And however that ends up looking, I'll be there beside you - cheering you on from the sidelines of your life.
I am your biggest fan.
