A Bit of Prose
It’s the realization that my friends didn’t fall away by chance, but my circumstance. Circumstances that I put in motion when I walked out the door all those years ago, headed for another airport. As I ate strange food and struggled over the pronunciation of “película,” my friends did not. They sat together and watched a movie. When I gave up my semester in high school for another weird land, my friends did homework together and played ultimate Frisbee. I’m grateful for the experiences I’ve had, but I sometimes wish there was someone I’d done them with. Now I lust for new experiences and insight that can be found in abundance across oceans; they drink wine together and reminisce on the years gone by. I’d like to reminisce on the years gone by, but the words I say have little meaning with them. They didn’t walk up mountains with Israelis and try strange potatoes, they didn’t navigate a city full of strange symbols; my friends have no taste for spicy octopus soup. My stories are only that: they are stories, fantasies, lives they may never live. They have lives of ambition and promotions. They are going on failed dates and laughing about the consequences. I am also ambitious, but not for the same things and we cannot relate. We can’t relate.
I can’t relate to my... who are they anymore?
Merely circumstance, but it’s of my own creation and I have to pay the price. I suppose it’s worth it. I suppose there was little choice when my heart called me away but to listen. Even when it meant leaving it all behind.
-S












