The People We Meet

I want to talk about those people you meet.

The ones you know,

For a moment, a year or a lifetime.

The kind that change your life in some irreversible way,

Even if it feels small.

That you won’t forget.

That you took with you. That you continue to take.

The girl who sold shoes in the nearby shopping centre who taught you how to tie your laces.

The teacher that made you believe you had something important to say.

The friend that visited you in every country you moved to.

The dad that showed you what showing up looks like.

The mom that showed you what strength looks like.

The brother that showed you what trying looks like.

The sister that showed you what bravery looks like.

The boy who convinced you that aisle seats were better than windows on planes.

The friend you had to share a small room and bed with when living abroad because you kept ending up living in dives.

The boyfriend who taught you how to come back down to earth every once in a while and fall in love with the simple things in life.

The client who told you you didn’t belong in the job you were in and that there was more out there for you.

The stranger that complimented a part of you you don’t like so much.

The manager who gave you a book that gave you the confidence to start living your life the way you wanted to.

The friend you spent a summer with sitting in the garden drinking cans wallowing in your breakups.

The flatmate you can lie on the floor with and talk about everything that’s going wrong in your lives, but know that you can both get up and make it right (eventually).

The friend that listens to your muddled process of figuring out an answer, but doesn’t impose their opinion on you.

The people who see right through you, every time.

We are woven from the threads of the people we meet.

Delightful and difficult, they break us, change us, mold us. They make us. They are us.

I look forward to meeting more.