Saturday, May 14, 2011

That’s How You Know

Over four decades of life, I have admittedly referred to a few people as ‘my favorite person on the planet’ or ‘the best writer I have ever known’, but then the cruel winds of timing and circumstance blow and soon enough I am left wondering how I ever stopped long enough to greet the person let alone arrive at such an absurdly amorous conclusion. But sometimes the ONE does come along, and here is how you know.

They are the one person who makes you reevaluate everyone else you have ever met, whose sheer existence sets the bar for all subsequent relationships. Your relationship leaves you wondering why you are drawn to each other since nothing about your space in time seems to logically tether you to one another.

They are the one person who when you swear to never show emotion in front of each other, you then find yourselves crying spontaneously together over a hard earned acceptance letter, or over the simple gesture of a latte when someone has broken your heart. They walk willingly into a closed trailer with your neurologically damaged and quite likely dangerous horse because they know it is too painful for you to do it yourself. They are the one who, prior to meeting you, digs their feet in the sand to declare that they "do not want to work with a grown up", and then becomes the reason you wake up in the morning and rush to the office.

They are the one to whom, after you have both independently seen heartbreak and pain and hardened your hearts accordingly, you find it impossible not to say ‘love you’ in every text or after every get together. Ironically, they become the one person you know you cannot live without. The way you know this is because every time you try to talk about their moving across the planet you start to cry. Then, and only then, can you say for sure that no matter where they are, they are truly your favorite person on the planet.

Sometimes life teaches us lessons we did not know we had left to learn. There are things we do not say in vain for fear we will disrespect the subject. For me, these days, I will never again, without due consideration, use the phrase ‘you are my favorite person on the planet’ except in the case of one remarkable, exasperatingly youthful, commendably dedicated, fiercely hysterical, and enigmatically brilliant girl who soon enough will be half way around the world, but whose friendship will be in every latte from this day on.

A quick trip through her blog and you too may likely come to the conclusion that she is your favorite person on the planet and the best writer you have ever known, but try as you may you will never pass three hours with her in a coffee shop, on a Sunday after church, as though it were 15 minutes. I know this because our time is limited, and I am stealing every last second that I can. Check it out  at www.mexicaninscotland.com

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