I was speaking with a coworker today who was telling me about a recent trip she had taken to her home town. She visited with a few of her old friends but found many more were unwilling or simply uninterested in meeting up with her. In her mind friends remain friends regardless of the number of years or miles that separate them, and she was upset to find so many people with whom she once shared a close bond now granted her no more affection than a drifter blowing through town.

"How could this be?" she wondered aloud. "Why would they choose to ignore me and not recognize our friendship?"

I immediately responded, "Because to them you're a ghost."

She looked at me quizzically, so I explained, " You were their friend in a former life, and when the path you walked together diverged and distance obscured you from view you became, in essence, ethereal, intangible, a simple wisp of memory. To see you again would be, for them, as if the ground opened up and the dead stood before them."

This was, quite understandably, much too depressing a thought for her, so our conversation ended there. She left for the break room and I sat at my desk pondering what I had just said.

I think most people live many lives, although we often mistake them for one. No part of ourselves stays the same forever; our thoughts, our passions, even our memories continuously bend, twist, shift and transform as time progresses. Our cells divide, grow old, die and are reborn again every several years. Our appearance changes as our bones grow, shrink, break and heal and as our skin is stretched, wrinkled and scarred. We will call many places home. Our families on Earth will grow with each new birth and marriage and shrink with every death and divorce. Some friendships may last but many more will fade away with time or be replaced with others.

Our current and future lives will always be in some ways tethered to our old, and our hearts will sometimes ache for friends and moments that have passed beyond our reach. Still time flows forward unfettered, and we are inevitably moved by it.

***

I'm about to be laid off from a job I never really liked, that I only stayed in as long as I did in order to take care of my family. I'm not bad at my job, but I'm not particularly suited for it either. My passion has always been in studying and discussing the evolution of human thought and culture, and I've known for years I should be in a field that would provide me opportunities to not only learn but also share the knowledge I've gained. Peggy and I decided that my impending job loss would be the impetus that would push me toward this goal. There are things I'll miss - job security and a steady paycheck, primarily - but there's no use in pining for things that are currently beyond my grasp. My new life lies in scholastic pursuits, and I am optimistic that this will provide me with greater opportunities than a life in warehousing.