Who we get stuck with

You know, this is the first time, possibly ever, that I've just stared at the quote underneath my blog title and thought about its meaning. "I'm gonna base this moment on who I'm stuck in a room with. It's what life is. It's a series of rooms. And who we get stuck in those rooms with adds up to what our lives are." I've blogged about the last four words before, but reading what I said then, I can't help but think how much I believe something completely different right now. It's not the end of that sentence that's so important, it's the beginning. Who we get stuck in those rooms with. That's what adds up to what our lives are. Not what happens, or where, or when, or why...with who. Following the line of thought that the quote suggests, the people in our lives make up the sum total.

I could have ended the post right there, but I continue. People. People in our lives. I think it's more than that - I think it's people who have been in our lives at any point in time. Even the lack of someone in our lives establishes an existence in our life, by negative differentiation. I cried during the entire first verse of "Silent Night" at church tonight, because this is the first Christmas I'm going through without my great aunt. I almost want to cry about it again right now, but I can't bring myself to it. I know that she's only gone in body, and not in spirit or my memory. Or anyone else's, for that matter. She was in my life, and she'll stay in my life, as long as I can bring myself to conjure up any shred of a memory I might have of her. I phrased that poorly. I remember lots of things about her. She'll stay in my life as long as I have that ability to recount that she was in my life. Same goes for anyone I've ever encountered, whether it be briefly, in passing, over a long period of time, or have lost, either physically or metaphorically.

The one constant in moments that seem to shape us, is people. Of the handful of identity-changing moments that I've had, someone has always been there. Of the handful of events that I'll never forget, people have always been involved. Fact of the matter is that there are too many people in this world for them not to be in our rooms. I don't really have any convicting claims, no final message. This is just an idea that I wanted to write down, because it came strongly onto me. Hopefully in reading this, you might think about the quote as well, or perhaps something that holds great value to you. My guess is that people will be involved one way or another.