The sun sets on another day…
I watched the sun drop to the edge of the horizon. It was stolen by a cloud then escaped for just a moment as the cloud chased it to the ends of the earth. In the end, it was a shimmering light show of crimson and gold, then night closed in and I wondered where all the color had gone.
I was watching a discussion today and the first thing I did was laugh at the thought of watching a discussion. The world has changed so much that words are more likely to be seen that heard. Well, enough of that. So, I was watching a discussion talking about how many friends had been born of a meeting. Now, normally I would just skim by and laugh, but this time I actually “watched” the discussion and in the process read more than a few items that had me in stitches.
You see, I have odd thoughts about circles of people in my life. Thoughts like: Who are friends, close friends, acquaintances, friend friends, best friends, at arms length friends, “I am not sure I trust you” friends, and even the occasional “just for a moment until I realize you are not as friendly as you seem to be” friends. The idea that one could have too many friends was a little funny to me. After all, we all know we only have a few best friends, sometimes only one or two. We also have only a few friends we trust but not as much as the best friends, and a lot or other “friends”in between. Usually we understand our friends pretty well, but sometimes we end up with friends who were really more of a friend than we thought, and some that were not really friends at all that we thought were better friends.
The idea of it all can make your head spin. Maybe not spin like an “Exorcist” style spin, but more like a “Beetlejuice” spin. Well, maybe.
As I considered the conversation unfolding in front of me I remembered we can go though life one of two ways, we can live it or we can let it live us. (Well, there are other ways, but humor me tonight). If we reach out and take chances we may have a few friends that are a bit odd, maybe a few that might want to be less than nice to us, but we can choose to take those chances. We may even have a few that are wolves in disguise, or sheep in disguise, or disguised to be a disguise, but we won’t know until we just jump in and find out. We have to learn more about a person to know who they are, and you can’t do that by not interacting, talking, having sodas or just watching sunsets with someone.
Of course we can also let life live us, hide from it all, and never know who was who, because, well, we let life make our decisions for us.
I have had friends that were the best ever. I could call them at a whim and knew they would be there for me. I have also had friends that told me how great of a friend they were while grinding a knife deep into my back until finally it ripped my soul like cheep tissue paper. Yes, it happens. You know what, every one helped me learn, helped me grow, and taught me a lesson, so it was worth it in some way. (But damn that knife still stings)
So, as the sun sets on another day. Maybe I should watch fewer conversations. Ooops, Let me try again. So as the sun sets on another day, we cannot know the people in our lives who will touch our hearts and transport us to this amazing world called friendship until they walk with us, talk with us, and find their way into our hearts. Since we only have one life to live, let’s take chances, climb mountains and maybe enjoy a few other people knowing not all of them will be a lifelong friend who sits at a movie and shares their popcorn in the lid, some will just be there from time to time to talk and laugh, and some will fade away as lessons learned, but every one is worth exploring, no matter what. (Except maybe that guy in the van with the candy, let’s leave him alone)
Sleep sweet, love often, and love to the moon and back and the stars beyond…