The People We Meet

As we go through life, people imprint themselves onto us. They all leave a mark. If we were dusted for fingerprints some would barely be traceable. Sometimes we meet those who knock us flat. We find ourselves on our asses in the middle of the floor wondering what the hell happened and nursing the welt which rises from our skin. Sometimes if we are lucky, we meet someone who seeps into us. Warm and liquid, like paraffin. They flow into every place imaginable. They maintain their heat allowing us to swim in them. We marvel at how we feel, how we look, marvel at how places inside us are suddenly alive, warm and filled up with this person.

I am one of the lucky ones. I have the pleasure of such a person. One who knows my darkest secrets and tends them like precious children. Who with one smile can set my heart to flight. I long for the "next time", though it doesn't much matter what "next time". Next laugh, next insight, next breath... I gather them up like Easter eggs. I pick each one up cradling it, commiting the details to memory, drowning in its beauty.

Some people are so much more than a finger print. Some never make you afraid that you will be sent flying to the floor. Some people you just know, perhaps from your quickening heart or your goofy grin each time you engage, that they are definitely going to leave a mark.