Still waters run deep but memories run deeper.
With time, many insignificant things fall away,
but the important ones live on.
Some regrets hang around, too.
They get comfortable and become unshakable.
Simultaneously, some well-cultivated mountains turn to mole hills.
And as hardened views relax, patience comes of age.
Time quietly evolves, at pace.
It teaches us about ourselves, about friendship, love and hope;
about adopting the grace of water rolling off coarse rocks,
letting ourselves become the symphony of beautiful waterfalls.
It teaches us to step back and to let go of pestering doubts,
to become more clear-eyed, and to see things as they are,
not as we hope they would be.
Sometimes, hope gets a gut punch.
Dreams are challenged and sucker punched.
But some friendships effortlessly deepen. While others fizzle.
And evaporate without explanation.
As life happens, misunderstandings must be triaged,
because not everything is equally important.
Life rumbles on and merges with the raging rivers of time.
It rushes in different directions, sometimes, all at once;
taking things, dreams, and people along at such speed
that everything begins to look and feel the same.
Mercifully, though, memories are deferential.
No matter how fast life moves,
they are the grown-ups.
They stand resolute – like trees – composed and impartial.
And while the eyes and ears might bend,
memories rise; they endure.
They grow deep roots.
They feed the hopes and dreams lying dormant in the still waters.