I got a call the other day from someone from my past. Someone who was a central part of my life, who shaped me and defined me, who helped to set my priorities in proper order, who brought excitement and adventure into a once dormant existence. Through circumstances and time, this relationship crumbled into dust, an ugly and bitter remnant of what was once something beautiful and special and unique and promising. The reflections from that time have now essentially faded to black. Visions and mannerisms and moments that were once firmly planted in my mind, I now struggle to recall. What remains are pale shadows with no depth or clarity. Sights and sounds and tastes and smells once so strong and vibrant and heady, have dissolved into the aether. They were very important to me for many years. The call was brief and caught me off guard. After I hung up the phone, I sat and thought about human relationships. How quickly and quietly the crop tends to rotate. I lingered on this one in particular. For some reason, I remembered a joke that we used to share and smiled to myself. The voice now distant and a bit unfamiliar, still had the power to stir my mind. To make me look back and to make me look forward. To make me see what was real and what was fantasy. A voice from the past that, perhaps, wasn't so distant after all. But, alas, for every beginning there is an end. For every hello there is a goodbye.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Awakenings
I got a call the other day from someone from my past. Someone who was a central part of my life, who shaped me and defined me, who helped to set my priorities in proper order, who brought excitement and adventure into a once dormant existence. Through circumstances and time, this relationship crumbled into dust, an ugly and bitter remnant of what was once something beautiful and special and unique and promising. The reflections from that time have now essentially faded to black. Visions and mannerisms and moments that were once firmly planted in my mind, I now struggle to recall. What remains are pale shadows with no depth or clarity. Sights and sounds and tastes and smells once so strong and vibrant and heady, have dissolved into the aether. They were very important to me for many years. The call was brief and caught me off guard. After I hung up the phone, I sat and thought about human relationships. How quickly and quietly the crop tends to rotate. I lingered on this one in particular. For some reason, I remembered a joke that we used to share and smiled to myself. The voice now distant and a bit unfamiliar, still had the power to stir my mind. To make me look back and to make me look forward. To make me see what was real and what was fantasy. A voice from the past that, perhaps, wasn't so distant after all. But, alas, for every beginning there is an end. For every hello there is a goodbye.
