I have always found it interesting that sometimes people enter your life for a relatively short period of time but leave something that remains with you for years.
Sometimes it is a friend, a teacher, a classmate, or even someone you just met for a few minutes. They don’t even have to mean much to you when you are in contact with them. You can just have a chat, share something with each other, laugh, learn something from them and continue living your own life.
And then, somehow, everything changes. People grow apart, move to new places, and get busy with their own lives.
It is not necessarily the person who leaves the most important thing behind. Sometimes it’s something they’ve taught you, something that changes your worldview or a little thing that stays in your memory.
This, I think, is what makes the process of growing up so unusual. We always expect important people to stay in our lives for good, but life never works like this.
Some people are just a part of one episode but manage to turn the next one entirely upside down.
Also, I have found out that absence of somebody does not necessarily mean insignificance of their presence.
People evaluate their relationships based on its duration. When somebody had been around for several years, he is considered to be important. And when he was there just for a while, his presence is sometimes considered as insignificant.
However, I do not agree with such an assessment.
One can stay in your life for several months and become one of those who made you more self-assured, taught you some important lessons or helped you to look at yourself in a different way. Even if his role comes to an end, you still remember what you have learnt from him.
Moreover, sometimes not all ends should be angry or bitter. People just start moving in different directions sometimes.
One can value the contribution of someone in your life without necessarily wanting him to return.
In my opinion, this is what makes certain people memorable. It is not always their staying, but something that happened to you while they were there.
Perhaps, this is the real essence of certain chapters. They are not eternal but they become part of the story nonetheless.
