...waves...

Funny how people come in and out of our lives - almost like an ebbing tide washing memories upon the shores of our lives; each memory comes to us stranded like the shells washed up on the beach; large and small, broken or perfect.

Some gently ride the waves, skimming across the surface seemingly unchanged by the currents or the distance traveled; pristine...a treasure to be owned by some beachcomber. While others, the broken ones, are relentlessly tossed by the waves until the rough edges are worn smooth by the sand leaving a semblance of what was once whole. Passed over by the observer, but held tightly in our hands because we know their cost.

People we meet throughout our lives shape us just as the sand gently smoothes the rough edges of the broken shells; a bit at a time. Sometimes there is a violent fracture from which we think we cannot survive or recover....and yet we do. And, ever so slowly, time wears away the sharpness until the pain dulls. And there are other moments that are perfect in our memory, that shine and capture us with their brilliance. They are etched upon our soul.

I have traveled many roads and walked on many foreign soils. In each place I see the same hunger in the eyes of the people I meet - a need to be known in some way; to be cherished by another; to make some mark on this world; to leave behind some trace of “Yes, I was here.”

I struggle between the girl of my childhood and the woman of today. Each experience, each person I have known has shaped who I am.....and how have I affected those I have touched? Will anyone ever remember I was here?