change

So, it's already 10 pm, and I'm just getting started on this post. Not good news, especially since I have some food prep waiting to be done yet before I go to bed. And a little kitty who is feeling frisky.

Everything got pushed back later than I intended, because we took some friends up on a last-minute invitation to go out for supper. One woman has just returned after 3 months of being away, so it was kind of a welcome back/let us help you stay awake to fight jet lag kind of gathering. Of course, she was an hour late because she fell asleep trying to unpack.

But it was a really nice evening, with really great people. There were four of us from the US, one Aussie, and one Dutch lady—who, I learned tonight, would prefer to be called a "Netherlander". :-) The blend of our different personalities and cultural backgrounds makes it a really interesting group. I always enjoy it when we get together.

As I looked around the table at the others I felt a bit sad that we are soon to leave, and no longer be a part of this group. But then I realized, even if we weren't going, this group still wouldn't stay the same. In fact, one person is leaving sooner that we are, going back to their home country in three weeks. Another thinks she'll only be around about two years more. Many of them are single (OK, actually Mr. and I were the only married people there tonight) and their lives might change at any time with the addition of a significant other.

And so what we have is this moment in time. A brief interval when our lives intersect as we reside in the same geographic location. Soon to scatter and diffuse ourselves across different parts of the globe.

Where will we all end up? Will we stay in touch? What was the reason that our paths crossed and joined for this short chapter?

And above all, why do I feel caught by surprise that life is constantly shifting and changing? It is irrational for me to expect things to stay the same. Even if I didn't live such a transient lifestyle in a place where people come and go so frequently, life still wouldn't remain static. It never does. So why does change continually come as a shock to my system?

I think maybe it's an echo of eternity left over in the human soul. A time where there are no endings, no good-byes. We want good things to last forever, and that's exactly what they will do when time is done away with and all the stories have been written. All the "happilies" will truly be "ever after" then.

But that's not now. Now we're in the middle of the story. Now things are always in flux. Now all we can do is savor the "happilies" as long as they last, and be grateful for them once they're over.

Yeah. It was a good evening.