Experience has taught me life can, and does, change in an instant. Without warning or little time to prepare or alter course, life just takes a different direction. People, by their very nature, are unpredictable. People who you've been friends with for years will abandon a friendship. People you've married will crucify you without cause. People whom you've known for just a short period will suddenly shift their attitude.
Life has prepared me well for these changes. I've known a great many people in my lifetime. Sadly, most have faded into the distance of my forgotten memories. Some people have surprised me, of course, and together we have weathered a lifetime of experience alongside one another. Those are the good ones. Not the perfect ones - the ones with idiosyncraticies and flaws that make their appeal and existence more profound. At least in my opinion.
Yet oddly, I've spent half my life craving human connection and the other half craving isolation. I have few friends. But they're loyal friends. The ones who come to me when I'm sick, sad, desperate and in need. Or sometimes they just come to share in the laughter. And they've rarely ever failed me - and I like to think I've never failed them.
I am courageous and kind - but I am not blind. I know the danger in this world. I'm half vulnerable and half guarded. But something unexpected happened today. A friend stopped by this afternoon. She knows a group of neighbors who live on a Cul-de-sac near my home. A clique. A group of ladies who surround themselves with a wall to hide their perfect lies and pathetic lives. This friend is my former housemaid - though even now I despise using that label. She was always a friend - eight years and still connecting. We talked about my dogs, my moving plan, my former spouse - and then she shared something very interesting. The clique, who she provides cleaning services for - were in an outrage about my former spouse. They gathered at the home she was cleaning and one by one relayed their support for me. Some spoke badly about my former spouse, others just cried and cringed at the destruction he's caused. I barely know this clique, though we've lived alongside one another for ten years.
Friendship is not a big thing - it's a million little things. Hard times will always reveal true friends - even when you didn't know you had them (like the clique). Whether it's a clique or a person you've always trusted, there is energy in this world. I assure you there is truth. But be wise. Don't expect a stranger to understand where you've been, accept what you've become, and still, gently allow you to grow.
The greatest gift I learned today, I was there when no one else was.
Bloom
Life has prepared me well for these changes. I've known a great many people in my lifetime. Sadly, most have faded into the distance of my forgotten memories. Some people have surprised me, of course, and together we have weathered a lifetime of experience alongside one another. Those are the good ones. Not the perfect ones - the ones with idiosyncraticies and flaws that make their appeal and existence more profound. At least in my opinion.
Yet oddly, I've spent half my life craving human connection and the other half craving isolation. I have few friends. But they're loyal friends. The ones who come to me when I'm sick, sad, desperate and in need. Or sometimes they just come to share in the laughter. And they've rarely ever failed me - and I like to think I've never failed them.
I am courageous and kind - but I am not blind. I know the danger in this world. I'm half vulnerable and half guarded. But something unexpected happened today. A friend stopped by this afternoon. She knows a group of neighbors who live on a Cul-de-sac near my home. A clique. A group of ladies who surround themselves with a wall to hide their perfect lies and pathetic lives. This friend is my former housemaid - though even now I despise using that label. She was always a friend - eight years and still connecting. We talked about my dogs, my moving plan, my former spouse - and then she shared something very interesting. The clique, who she provides cleaning services for - were in an outrage about my former spouse. They gathered at the home she was cleaning and one by one relayed their support for me. Some spoke badly about my former spouse, others just cried and cringed at the destruction he's caused. I barely know this clique, though we've lived alongside one another for ten years.
Friendship is not a big thing - it's a million little things. Hard times will always reveal true friends - even when you didn't know you had them (like the clique). Whether it's a clique or a person you've always trusted, there is energy in this world. I assure you there is truth. But be wise. Don't expect a stranger to understand where you've been, accept what you've become, and still, gently allow you to grow.
The greatest gift I learned today, I was there when no one else was.
Bloom
