Waxing Philosophic...

You ever have one of those moments when you realize that someone you once knew very well has changed? Or maybe that you have changed? Or even that the/your world itself has changed? Perhaps all of the above? If you haven't, then you're lying. Sure, we all grow & change, but it seems like I have had to come face-to-face with more than the average amount of these such realities & realizations about people in the past several years -- some are disappointing, some are frightening, some are sad, some are delightful, & some are absolutely heavenly...

Some changes happen so gradually that you hardly notice until you stop to think about it. On the other hand, sometimes in the blink of an eye, you can look at someone & think, "Wow, it's gone." Good or bad, it's gone. That connection. That bond. You realize that you no longer live in the same worlds. Friends from high school & college, people you have worked with, sometimes even family members. I still love & adore them all, always will. And of course you still have ties that bind & friendships that will last forever, but they do not always stay the same or as strong as they once were (and sometimes they grow even stronger). We grow -- up, out, older, closer together, farther apart.

[At times, we may see these friends &/or family making mistakes... or at least what WE think are mistakes. But there comes a time when you have to take a step back & let them do it because nothing you can say or do would change anything -- you may not support the situation, but you support the PERSON. You can just be there for them & be everything that a good friend should be. At the same time, when the good things happen to those friends/family, you can be that same friend, only sharing in the joy & happiness!!! Okay, off of my soapbox or tangent or whatever that was...]

While all of that can be somewhat depressing & disheartening, really, it shouldn't be at all, for we never lose our true friends. And not only do we have the memories, but look at how life continues to give us more people to fill the voids, to repair the cracks, to share our lives & experiences with (bless their hearts!)... some permanent, some just passing through. Either way, we are lucky to be here at all... and for that, I am forever thankful.

How "glass-half-full" of me!!! And believe it or not, I haven't even been drinking. ;)

I leave you with a picture I took on the Gulf Coast in Gulfport, Mississippi, 2 weeks ago. If anything represents change & hope right now, then the coast is surely it...