"Hi, my name is Trixie… it's so nice to meet you", I say for the fourth time, sadly to the same person. I have been enjoying Sunday Brunch with Hazel for several months now, but lately she forgets who I am. Hazel is 96 years old and suffers from dementia.
Pleasant chattering around the breakfast table is interrupted yet again by Hazel's query, "And who are you young lady?" She looks at me with a puzzled, yet smiling face. "Hi, my name is Trixie… it's so nice to meet you." I respond with a smile.
Within minutes Hazel and I become good friends, sharing stories and laughing together, enjoying the company of the other ladies at our table. These are precious moments that I treasure and tuck away, because I know they will soon become rare.
It doesn't matter how many times Hazel and I meet for the "first time" during brunch, we always become good friends. We were MEANT to be friends.
I think that during the course of our lives there are certain people that we are just MEANT to be friends with. It doesn't matter what our circumstances are or where we live, fate finds a way to draw us together.
Almost from the start a connection is felt. A bond develops as we learn more about each other and we realize that this can't be a coincidence. How can two people have so much in common, share so many of the same dreams and feelings? How can we know each other's thoughts, understanding without the need for words? The sense is that we must be kindred spirits, soulmates, that we have a very special and unique friendship.
Yet are these friendships meant to last forever or were they designed to serve a particular purpose, to meet a specific need at a specific time?
Perhaps a kindred spirit came into your life quite unexpectedly, and only after a while did you realize that the purpose of that friendship was to carry you through a trial, support you in difficulty, be the anchor that you needed as life tossed you to and fro. And now that the seas have settled and life is moving on, that friendship has diminished, maybe even ended.
There are times when I lament a lost friendship. The promise of "friends forever" now rings hollow in my ears. I question how two souls that were so connected can now be miles apart... Eventually realizing that the fault is no one's, I have come to accept that perhaps that friendship was for a season, was for a reason. And with this, I have come to appreciate what we shared and the time that we were MEANT to have together.
