A Reflective Kind of Morning

The past 24 hours have been strange ones, in an introspective kind of way. It started out with a friend & I going out for breakfast, where he caught me up on his life. He has some big changes to make but has been hesitating for months now, afraid of what lies beyond. I pointed out to him that I was in that exact state of stasis last year, seemingly unable to move forward because I had let myself get inexorably stuck in the past. In the end though I did get unstuck from my situation, though the decision was not mine. Often that hurts more, but it often doesn't detract from the reality that the change was a necessary one. In my case, I was bitter about it for many months, but can now clearly see that it was a huge blessing in disguise. So the same shall be for my friend, though he refuses to let himself see that yet.

I then attended a small housewarming party for some people who had moved back into my neighbourhood. The change for them was a big one but one they consciously chose to make. Attending were, not one, but two newlywed couples, starting the rest of their lives off afresh. Nice to see.

Throughout the day several distinctive scenes indicated that a couple in my building is likely in the process of a breakup. Empty boxes are entering their place and I expect full ones to be leaving soon. Though I think from only one of them. Neither seems to be very happy these days but perhaps this too shall reveal itself a gift in a longer space of time.

I heard from an acquaintance of mine in Montreal. Unbeknownst to me, she had broken up with her last boyfriend a while ago and was content being single for now, focusing on family and career. She's such a dynamic, fabulous, brilliant person and yet has been unable to find that neverending love and trust that we all seek. Reminds me a lot of my own situation.

Late last night I attended a farewell party for two newer friends who are moving back to Hong Kong. They clearly seem to have found that special connection and for that, and much more, I applaud them loudly. They mentioned that many of the people there were also experiencing changes in their life, be it moving to another part of the world or new jobs. Most special for me though was that I met a brother & sister who were up visiting from the U.S. He's a lawyer from Seattle and she's a beautiful, aspiring actress from L.A. It's rare to meet engaging, interesting people at some party, but considering who their friends are, I really shouldn't have been suprised.

I finished the 24 hours off watching A Lot Like Love. It was very appropriate for the mood these recent events had set me in. It's a story about a man & a woman who met for one day, and one day only, every couple of years, albeit at very pivotal moments in their lives. These encounters, sometimes chance, sometimes not, served to change their future paths.

As I sit here this morning, I wonder if it's no surprise that all of these changes in the lives around me are occuring in this particular season of autumn. For the summer fun has now faded. The leaves are falling from the trees and rapidly changing colour. Squirrels and birds are gathering food for the cold months ahead. The temperature has been dropping rapidly and soon frost will be appearing on the windows every morning. As is often said, the only constant in life is change.

Changes are afoot for me too. For the past year I have been almost entirely stationary, rarely leaving Vancouver. Since March I have been completely focused on building a new software package, a new company, and dare I speculate, a new life. But this work will be finished soon, and though there will be much more programming in the years ahead, I'm almost certain that my life will change dramatically in 2006, with new clients, most of whom I've not yet met, in places I've probably never heard of, wanting me to fly here and there to help them out. It's an exciting prospect, and one I'm looking forward to, but I will forever reflect back on these recent times as good ones, very good ones indeed.

This past day I will remember as one of those snapshot moments, much like in that movie; one in which I realized that every one of us has many paths we can take at any point in time. We do tend to continue on the same path though, and while there's nothing wrong with that, we must never forget that we don't need to keep on heading in the same direction. A course correction, now again, be it small or large, is often a good thing!