Hello Stranger

by Jade West

I spent enough of my life trying to fix pain, without causing more of it.

It doesn’t matter how long you think you’ve prepared for saying goodbyes, there’s still that gut-thumping shock that comes when you see them truly looming.

I smiled at her. “Give yourself up to me,” I said. “Feel whatever you feel, just let yourself feel it.”

Tis is so hot and sweet at the same time.

“Life’s fragility makes all love fragile.” I sipped my coffee, soaking in her stare. “Love leads to loss. Loss leads to pain. Therefore, all love ends in pain.”

“But love makes it worth the pain, right? You only ever get a fall after a high.”

“Let’s live for the moment,” she said. “It doesn’t have to be about the love, or the life, or this imaginary future I’ve got in my head. Because that doesn’t matter, does it? Lightning could strike in the garden tomorrow, and I could be gone just like that, and so could you. But that just makes every single second more important, doesn’t it?”

“I love you, Logan. Call it a moment, or call it a lifetime, I don’t care. I just want to tell you I love you.

It doesn’t matter how many times you see people preparing at the end of life’s road, nothing prepares you for the slam of watching someone you love slip away.

“Grief destroys people. Always has, always will. You can think you’ve prepared for a whole fucking decade, but losing someone you love is always going to put you on your knees.”

doesn’t matter how solid you think you are, you’ll still get torn to shreds when you say your last goodbyes to someone you love.”

“All the miniscule things have huge power. It’s the tiny things that we need to appreciate, all day, every day.

“Believe me, sweetheart, what’s important is the simple shit. Being around people, sharing, talking, eating. Simple pleasures that most people don’t even take notice of. Their heads are always stuck on what’s ahead of them and not on what’s there, right here, right now. And that’s sad, because your time is every second, and once it’s gone, it’s gone forever.”

“Don’t ever justify what makes you, you, or how good you are. You don’t have to stand up and be counted for shit that doesn’t matter. You want to eat a feast, you fucking eat one. You don’t have to justify how much or how little is on your plate, darling. Not ever. None of it ever matters – we are all as equally as important as the next person. There is no top dog, just the stupid damn illusion of one.”

“The joy in the moment, sweetheart, the joy of you being you for who you are, embracing love and friendship. It’s magic. It’s always magic. Don’t stress, just be you for who you are. That’s the greatest magic of all.”

She was worth a lifetime.

why are you so keen to let me go?”

“The moment is now. It’s always now. Not about reliving the past or dreaming up the future, it’s in the here and now. Enjoy as many of those moments as you can, because they never come twice, my love.”

“So let’s find out,” I told him, and remembered his words to me weeks ago. “Let’s just enjoy one day at a time, shall we? The shadows will always be waiting in the shadows.”

Every moment truly is magical, just so long as your eyes aren’t blind to the wonders.

All hellos ultimately have their goodbyes. And all goodbyes hurt so much harder if the love they are founded on is so damn strong.