There are many things to think about when you meet friends you have not met in a while. You notice the little shift in them and their mannerisms. The realisation that despite your apparent absence in their lives, their lives have moved forward, that we are only as crucial to a life as the amount of time we get to spend in it, starts to sink in slowly, at first, but then, abruptly and almost instantaneously. I have felt this many times before, and the last day has not been different either. But it always takes me by surprise; it almost sweeps the entirety of the Earth below my feet, and the last day has not been different either. But then, you cannot be in all lives at all times. We can only move in and out of them like characters in a stage play, doing the little we ought to do, talking just enough to push the story forward, not more, not less. So, now, after this wave of unimportance has lashed over me and washed me ashore, I can finally drink and have a merry time with people. Perhaps dance a bit if the opportunity allows.
It has come to my realisation that this slow dance with my thoughts, as I stare right through them, is something I end up doing each time. And no, I am not conceited enough to think that lives should pause till mine intersects with them. Even hinting at an idea like that would be a disservice to how much I adore people despite my nitpicks and never being able to meet them eye-to-eye on most things. In the end, there is no doubt in it—that I love all the people I have spent time with and ever broke bread with, that I sometimes feel uncomfortable that I was in their life till a particular year, a specific day, and that it has passed and I will only see them in passing, on events, in a chance encounter in another city.
But then, what can you do? You move forward with your life as people move with theirs. The cast changes, the story twists, but the heart remains, and the heart remembers. Perhaps there is some solace in this, then, that we can try and pick up where we left things off, only to get out of touch again. But then, there is solace in it, too, because then we can try again. At least, one could hope and try to see it this way.