LOVE: MEETING THE STRANGER THAT BECOME YOUR SOULMATE

I love to hear stories about how and why people come into our lives. The adventure of chance meetings, serendipity, and what 2 people who at one point didn’t mean a thing to each other and would one day become an essential part of one another’s lives.

The interesting thing about strangers is you never really know just what kind of impact they’ll have on your life: good or bad, short-term or long-term, romantic or platonic.

I met this once-upon-a-time stranger at a local bookstore when I was living in the city.We were both regulars – and one day he placed half of a bagel covered in honey on my table next to his. We’ve been friends ever since.

When you make room in your life to let strangers in, you make room in your life for the great adventure of people and of friendship. In my opinion – this adventure is just as exciting, as daring, as capable of helping you grow as the adventures of exploring the hidden gems of earth on our travels.

When you meet anyone for the first time, be it in line at the store, a dinner party you’re the guest at, or in your local coffee shop, you’ll have no idea if they’ll be someone you will later call one of your oldest friends.

You won’t know their history, and they won’t know yours.

You won’t know if  this relationship will out last the hurtles of time and distance and change that all friendships eventually do.

You won’t know if one day thirty years from now you’ll recall that brief conversation with that stranger that magically changed the way you viewed how an aspect of the world worked.

And so today I sat next to one my best friend and we got into talking about all of what’s written above. It’s a feeling I’m sincerely grateful for to be able to look this good friend in the eye who was once a stranger, and to have him look me right back in the eye, and we tell each other we’re thankful that we came into each others lives. For me, only a few years ago he was just a stranger who spent way too much time in bookstore like me, helped me get through some of the most difficult times I’ve ever gone through in my life. And he did that just be being my friend and being in my life. Some people, just be being with them, somehow help you make sense of any mess, help you remember that ‘everything is going to be okay‘, and help you remember what it’s like to not be sad or angry or hurt or scared if at least for a brief moment. And it turns out, that along the way, I was the same thing for him too. We were two strangers that ended up having each others’ backs. Somehow, we both filled a gap in each others lives. And it all started with the simple, kind act of a stranger sharing  half of a bagel with another stranger.

Some people – they just get you, ya know? It’s almost as if you’ve known each other forever. Or maybe it’s more like you don’t need to spend that extra 5 minutes explaining why this or that happened because somehow they already get it. There’s this basic and fundamental understanding there. And that’s what I have with this once-upon-a-time-stranger.

It’s sincere. It’s open. It’s accepting. It’s nonjudgmental.

Each and every person that comes into your life comes into your life for a special reason. The people that put us through hell are just as necessary as the people who help us open doors we never knew existed or we weren’t strong enough to open just by being a positive presence in our own lives.