SO, HAVE A GREAT LIFE
Her words captured the beauty of the occasion: a closure of something with the profound hope for someone else to experience a great life.
It was the choice of words and its delivery that touched him.
Could they say we even really knew each other? Not really.
Flown in as a request from head office, she was a second pair of eyes to support the team and keep things on track. He’d always known she would leave after the month was up. So, other than the regular pleasantries during office hours, why put in the extra time in getting to know someone who has an expiration date?
But you can’t ignore a kindred spirit. And there was a tinge of sadness at the thought of her leaving.
It could have been an awkward goodbye or even a non-existent one since he was lucky to be there on her last day.
“Well, I suppose I won’t be seeing you after this. So, have a great life, I guess?”
He was so charmed by the moment, and her words, clichéd and corny even, rung in his ears with a different timbre.
And it hit him,
the honesty of the situation:
no promises of meeting in the future,
no false commitment to stay in touch, to text, to
somehow be in each other’s lives. No pretense to remain friends, even. Just an acknowledgment of people navigating through life like ships that were docked at port for a time but were ready to set sail again.
Isn’t that what we all are? Just passing ships in the night? So often he felt unmoored, hurt by the loss of people in his life, the ships that he thought would remain forever, gone for brighter pastures or without a trace in a night’s storm. So often he’d try to find ways to anchor a ship with their majestic sails, to keep them close to him as he navigated his own rough waters. But he knows in his heart he must let them go.
(It is also the same at a good party, when the music is right and strangers let down their guard and begin dancing with the people that surround them. The joy in bodies moving together and the shy smiles of acknowledgment that, for a moment, we are connected, we are moving as one. Wordless connection on the dance floor, meant to be experienced for a moment, then gone forever.)
Her words captured the beauty of the occasion: a closure of something with the profound hope for someone else to experience a great life, a bold life.
Not one without hardship or struggle
But a full life with adventure.
They may meet again (as ships sometimes do) but even if they didn’t, this moment was enough.
He wished more friendships and encounters ended this way. So, often a friendship just drifts into nothingness, no note, no final goodbye… just gone, with him left leaving metaphorical candles by the window, hoping for ships to return in the night.
***
Recently, a face popped into his mind (as they often do). Someone from his not so distant past, someone who might have been a friend, could have been…
(but the schedules never worked, and “how about we meet here?” and “sorry, I’ve got food poisoning” and “I’m traveling right now but let’s meet when I’m back?…”)
He looked at their text history and the last time he reached out was a year ago, his last text left on read.
He typed out a new message and hit send: Hey, just thinking of you. Are you still in Amsterdam?
Days later and still no response. He thought of him, the one time they shared a joint by the water and talked about movies they liked. He looked at the unanswered message and thought: Well, I suppose I won’t be seeing you. So, have a great life, I guess!