Flashback

This morning the past zipped up and swatted me on the side of the head- 3 times!

Incident #1: Jon-a-tron
Walking to work, I cross the street seeing a man walking towards me with a baby stroller. Didn't think anything about it but then all of the sudden something seemed familiar, so I looked back at the guy. He had a big smile on his face and I knew, it was my friend Jonathan. I hadn't seen him in years, I know he's happily married with his first kid. Floored I gave him a giant hug and then introduced myself to Cameron, the little guy.


Jonathan was at one point one of my closet friends through a very tumultuous time in my life. We hung out every day for months but as life goes, things happen and relationships drift apart. The last I remember talking to him he had just proposed to the woman of his dreams. Though delighted, our lives took separate turns and we just stopped talking. People come and go and this just happened to have been one of those situations.


As it turns out he now lives at the end of my block (small world!) with his wifey and baby. It was nice to reconnect, though it was only for a brief moment. It meant a lot and put a smile on my face.


Incident #2: married man
Many months ago, actually maybe it was a year ago, I kept running into this man who worked in my office building. I'd see him when I'd go grab breakfast and I'd see him when I'd go out for drinks with the girls on Friday. He made some pretty forward advances on me and I found out he was married. Well, I tore a nice little strip off of him and put him in his place. Every time I would run into him he would instantly lower his eyes to his shoes and turn bright red. I wasn't bothered by the situation at all, he was the married one with the shity moral values. Today, I ran into him first thing, taking the elevator up to work. It was just me and him so I smiled and made polite conversation. I can tell he knows my boundaries but it was pleasant to be able to have a normal conversation with him. I was pleased to see that he was also wearing his wedding ring.


Incident #3: John
It has been years since I have talked to John. He was a former boyfriend which waffled between a serious relationship to a not so serious relationship to a serious relationship again. For my own sanity I had to remove myself from contact with John because it was important for me to establish some space and grow without the distraction. I am not exaggerating when I say that I haven't had any contact with John for years. When I came into work this morning I saw that I had an email from him, it wasn't anything personal it was actually information from him informing me that he was doing an epic ride/adventure for cancer. In the past he has donated to all my causes and this morning, my gut said "Blanche, it's time to come out of hiding and show some support". So I did. It may not sound like much but I donated to his cause and wrote a little note of encouragement. This was an important step for me to take to marry all the growth that I have done now with my past.


I am sure none of these things sound like much to you, but for me they were gigantic moments especially to happen all in one day. I am reminded of who I was, the strength I have and who I am today. There are no expectations or forecasts over any of these events, they are what they are. Isolated occurrences to remind me of lessons I've learnt.