When We Were

by Diana Elliot Graham

To anyone who thinks they need closure, it’s not found anywhere outside of yourself. To anyone who thinks they need control, I promise you already have it.

“Reid, you can miss me now, the way I miss you. The way I think I’ll always miss you. But I learned a long time ago that you can miss something without wanting it back. Knowing that what you miss is just the memory. The version we preserve to protect the imprint of something, or someone, important.”

“But memories aren’t always honest, ours clearly weren’t. They are filtered and viewed through whatever lens we need them to be. And you don’t make decisions on that. You can’t build a life on the blueprints of memories alone.”

We won’t be who we were when we were them. Who we were when we were happy in the blissful ignorance of ‘young love’ or whatever it is people say to be cliché. Whatever it is, people call it to make you feel like you’re under a common spell and prepare you for the idea that it isn’t permanent in any way that matters. And you aren’t unique for experiencing it. We won’t be who we were. But we will both be who we should.

Just because you close the back cover on your favorite book doesn’t mean it doesn’t stay with you.