#desmoinesriverwalk

As you age, you'll notice it becomes hard work staying close to the ones you love. Tides attempt to pull you apart, winds blow distance between you both, and you begin to understand that you must hold tight to the people who make you feel less crazy and more complete. 

Those tides will pull and the winds will howl, but they're a blessing. They make you aware that these kinds of friendships - the ones where you get calls on your birthday or texts about a really good song - are of irreplaceable value to your life. 

Between the events you've experienced alongside them and all that gas money you've used to visit them, you learn to hold tight in the midst of new interests, new careers, and even new friendships. 

But after few years, you don't have to hold as tightly. Because you've built something with them - a line of communication, a shared history - that isn't easily broken. 

And those are the kinds of people you treasure for the rest of your life. Because without them, life isn't as meaningful and your story isn't as full. Each one of them is their own universe, a small piece of the cosmos that you're lucky enough to have for however long you do.

You never know who you're about to meet.

One day you're talking to a stranger in California and, five years later, you're having coffee with her in your hometown.

Blink and you might miss something.

But you also might miss someone. 

"I don’t believe in love at first sight, but I do believe in seeing someone from across the room and knowing instantly that they’re going to matter to you..."

-Ryan O'Connell