We’ve Never Been Strangers

We’ve never met. We’ve never laid eyes upon each other; never exchanged the cautious scrutiny of acquaintance. We’ve never had cause to reflect upon disposition and think, ‘She’s really rather lovely.’ We are a mystery to each other in so many ways but in others, that could not be further from the truth.

Your existence. I am fundamentally changed because you exist. My dreams, my focus, my self-perception, the very cells of my body are altered because of you. I am new, as you will be very soon as well. What’s to come? This is a fantasy, innumerable fantasies; this is the promise that makes my completely altered state okay. I am different but I am different because of you and this feels like the greatest and most worthwhile accomplishment of all. You have changed the way I see my past self. I was ‘then’ and I am ‘now’ and ‘then ’could never compare. Thank you for the gift of self-awareness.

Strangers ask me questions about you but there’s nothing much for me to tell them. They accept this, they too are happy for you to simply be. These strangers ask because they each have some small stake in you but don’t feel pressured by that pull, you have a stake in each of them as well. We all matter to each other pulled in so many directions that we will always remain upright. Inverted support.

I will steady you, I will hold you up for many years until I can be sure that the support of the others is reliable. I will always be the one who is most attentive to her thread. I will pull it taught when you sway too far away and loosen it when others can once again be trusted but know this, I will always be watching and ready. We’ve never met but you’re as important to me already as you will always be. We’ve never met but I think I’ve always known you.

We’ve never met, but we’ve never been strangers.