The People in Our Periphery

"When we are broken, love is the light that comes in through the cracks."

They walk among us, around us all the time, their bodies and minds carrying around the stories unique to their own life experiences. The people in our periphery on any given day mostly remain veritable strangers to us...i.e. the teachers at our kid's school, the girl who hands us our coffee over some random counter,  the police officer who just drove by us at the light, or the teen who randomly bumps us in passing at the mall. Every once in a blue moon there will be some form of recognition, such as an old colleague from a job we no longer work, or an obscure former member of our high school graduating class, but for the most part, these people are merely blips that pop in and out of our life. It would be easy to assume that this makes them less significant, that we have no discernible connection to these wandering souls traveling near or around the space in which we co-exist, but that would be wrong. Utterly, completely wrong. I can thank April for pointing this out to me...the woman, not the month.

On a day several years ago when I was facing a bout with cancer, April "Instant Messaged" me. She told me that I was not alone and all would be well. That may not seem unusual, except for the fact that prior to that day, she and I hadn't seen each other since high school, hadn't spoken to one another for many, many years. When she friend-requested me on Facebook, I added her, remembering vaguely this bubbly teen whose happy smile couldn't help but put smiles onto the faces of others. Beyond that, however, we remained in each other's periphery until that fateful day when she reached out. You see, she was also battling cancer, and her fight was much more frightening than my own. She confessed to me that she'd been following my writing career. She said, "I wanted to let you know how uplifting and encouraging your writing is to me. You have a gift. Love ya, girl." And just like that I began to cry. I told her I'd been paying attention to her struggles, her life too and that she was a "light that shines pretty and bright". I told her she inspired me, "Just remember when you feel alone or that pile of mess you're dealing with gets overwhelming...you are always close to my thoughts...Tuck me into the back of your mind as the quiet voice saying, 'I'm here. You are loved and you've got this." She told me that meant more to her than I'd ever know...except, maybe I know. I know her light from the periphery was and is just as bright as any light in front of me. I know that even though her soul is gone from this world, she leaves behind this deeper legacy through every single other soul she touched. And I know down to my bones that the ONLY thing any of us does on this Earth of any importance is in the love we sew, nurture, or just flat out give away to others expecting nothing in return. As for all those people in the periphery, they are as essential to us as we are to them. Be gentle with them. Always...and in all ways.

Love,
A.