Wise Change

<-- Picture for Today. I personally love this pic. Taken while on cruise in Bahamas.











Note: Wrote this in Mar of 2001. I had forgotten about this piece, until today. Found it in an old CD of random saved stuff. Ooh, the syrupy words makes you think it's about love, but you are dead wrong haha. It's just about a bunch of friends going their own ways. Or so I imagined.

***

It’s not life-threatening. It’s not world-crashing. It’s just change.

And gut told you all along that it would come one day. But when that time came, you looked over your shoulder at all the times you’ve spent together, all the little bumps and sideroads you took to reach what you had become, and you sigh. Come to think about it, you haven’t gotten that far in years. But in your heart, you know that you have come a long way. Has it been that long since we were brought together in this place? I sure haven’t noticed.

Then again, as I think back at all that has happened, the laughter, the near tears, the frustration, the sense of accomplishment, the idle hours, the no-talk-just-act days, the go-and-have-fun times, and the stop-what-you’re-doing-and-just-catch-up time, I realize that, indeed, it is here. We are being cut loose. Being asked by the powers-that-be to go our separate ways all for our greater growth of spirit and mind.

And I know deep within me, as I believe the others do too, that this is all for the greater good. Still, it adds no padding to the sadness of parting ways. It adds a touch of hope, yes. That tomorrow might be better; but for today what we have is the blues, and nothing anyone may say can change that.

And I see everyone smiling, laughing, as if today was all we had. And in a way, I know we are all aware that it is. The moments that quickly pass by are all that’s left for us to remember each other by.

And people may say, “Don’t worry. Your paths will cross still,” and we know that this is not a lie. Yet, even they cannot smile, for memories of friendships --- once braided thinly, then more evenly, and then seemingly inseparable, suddenly cut by circumstance --- return.

And we feel absurd for feeling the way we feel. For this is life. And life will continue to be whether or not we are together…….Nevertheless……

Let’s laugh today….and tomorrow….and every single time remember all the fun we had, all the new things we learned, the friendships we built.

Friendships and bonds, they say, can be broken, but memories, never. They stay with us until we choose to forget.

So to all of us who will be parting ways, let’s smile, leave this place with our memories, and choose to…..well, just choose wisely.