And so

Today I went to the mall, as I sometimes do on my lunch break, and I bought 2 green shirts for the St. Patrick’s Oak Forest day-long celebration on Saturday (can’t wait, by the way!). After that, I went to the food court, hung my bag on my chair and ate. I left the mall after my hour break only to realize I had left my bag there, so I ran back as quick as I could. Luckily my bag was still hanging on the chair where I left it. But what startled me more is that the same couple I had seen earlier was still there enjoying their meal together. I noticed them when I was first in the food court, eating their Steak and Potato Co. sandwiches, and I thought it was endearing how the husband carried her food, gave it to her, etc. Once I left the mall and returned back to my own life, they were forgotten. A one-time memory, probably insignificant, etched in mind, then forgotten about. And when I saw them again, I almost forgot that they had even existed.

Is this what happens to people when they are no longer in your life? Out of sight, out of mind? I guess it depends on how important that person is to you. Surely I forgot this couple quickly…I hadn’t met them, spoken to them, learned of their hopes, dreams, listened to their life accomplishments, heard their stories of travel, learned their grandchildren’s names. But how do you forget about someone who has left a profound, long-lasting, recurring imprint on you? How do you forget them? You cannot will yourself to forget. You’ll never forget. They’re memory will linger with you as long as you live. Time may make it easier to live with that memory, but it will always be with you. In time you’ll forget raw emotion and simply remember a ghostly version of that person. Sometimes I wish life was quicker, time passed faster, things were resolved sooner. It’s hard to carry around the weight of the unfinished.