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Monday, May 14, 2012

"sweet dreams all met with derision, this train it was armed for collision..." State of the Union by David Ford

There was a little quote magnet that used to hang on the fridge in our house. Or maybe it didn't hang on the fridge. I can't remember. Maybe I just heard my Mother say it a few times and it glued itself to my subconscious. This is it:


People come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.

I never really thought much about this little gem until a year or two ago when people that I wished could have stayed in my life for a couple more seasons started to leave. Then I started looking for the reasons, knowing that the lifetime was still a long way off. Or at least I thought so.

It's the natural way of things, I guess. You meet people. We all meet people. Some people meet more people than other people, and other people meet fewer people than other people. The point is, there are a whole lot of people out there that we meet. Sometimes they come into our lives for a while, but leave no trace when they slip quietly out the back door. And we couldn't care less most of the time. We forget about them until someone mentions their name, or they pop up on our Facebook News Feed and we struggle with the decision of whether or not to delete them in our semi-annual Facebook friend purge.

Then there are the people that come into your life and it's like they bring the world with them. And when they go the world follows after them, leaving you with an empty space that I guess we call miss. And it's not a casual sort of miss. Not the I miss you every once in a while when you cross my mind sort of miss. Heavens no.

Because these are the kind of people that your life doesn't just let slip out the back door unnoticed. Rather, it barricades the backdoor, probably with a heavy piece of furniture like a wardrobe, or maybe even a fridge. And once all exits are sealed, your life (if it's as courteous as my life is) probably sets out tea and crackers, or puts a chocolate cake in the oven, and all but begs the wonderful person you now know to stay for just a bit longer--a season, maybe. A lifetime, if they could.

Because these are the people that come into our lives and leave us a little bit better than they found us.

And when you miss these people it's the I miss you still sort of miss. The kind that sits with you at breakfast in the morning where you reach for the sugar yourself. The kind that waits for you on the other side of the door when you come home. The kind that will tap you on the shoulder during moments when you are pretty darn sure you're happy, just to remind you that things aren't as good as they could be. The kind that started when they left, or you left, and won't let up until they're back again, bringing the world with them.

There are few people I miss like that. Thank goodness.

And I if I'm lucky then you might be missing me like that. Just maybe.