Pairing up

Years ago my daughter asked me about what would happen if she liked a boy and a friend liked the same boy, what happens when the boy chooses one or the other? What happens to the friendship? What happens when someone is left behind? And I answered her as best I could and said, "Sometimes the boy will choose you and sometimes the boy will choose someone else. And it doesn't mean that anyone is better or worse than anyone else, it just means that, for this boy, one person fit with him more than the other."

And as I talked to my daughter about this, I realized just how many times I've had this conversation with myself and my friends over the years. It may start in 5th grade, but it doesn't end there. This life-long struggle with someone choosing someone else is something we all have dealt with in our lives. It is something we may even be dealing with today. But the length of the struggle doesn't make the question any easier to answer; it just means you need to think about it differently.

Because the way I see it, we're all like pieces in a giant maze. We are different colors and have different hair, we have different colored eyes and wear different clothes; we like different activities and we think different things are funny; and we are all, all of us, just wandering around trying to find someone to pair with.

We start this quest young but we continue on it for decades. We walk through the maze and we bump into people as we go along. Some stay with us for a short time, and some wander along the road for longer, but until we find someone we really want to pair up with, we continue to walk along.

And in this maze and as you get older, more and more people couple up, and at times it can feel like you are the only soul walking around alone. But somewhere, in that maze, maybe over a fence or border or two, is someone else wandering around too. Someone else wondering where their someone is, looking up at the sky and questioning. And although you can't see it now, up ahead is a opening; a pathway that leads you right where you should be. A pathway that brings together the two wandering souls who wonder when their time will come.

So even though you can't see it now, realize that you will wander right just where you should be. One of these days, the doorway will open and behind it will be the person looking for you. And even though today it may seem like you're alone, and even though today you may have nothing more than hope to carry you along, keep walking and wishing; because one day, for all of us, we will open our eyes and say "There you are" and we will out a sigh. Someday you will find that someone to choose you and you will choose him back in return, and you will understand just why it took you so long to get where you are.

-a

Comments