FRIENDS AND STRANGERS

 TO THE PEOPLE WE LOSE ALONG THE WAY

This familiar stranger- who are they? I don't recognise you. 

Isn't it funny how easily we went from friends to strangers?  Does that mean that we never had anything real? 

Isn't it terrifying how someone can mean the world to you one moment and turn into a complete stranger the next? 

Was it easy for you to let go of everything we shared, to forget all of the times we laughed together, to turn me into someone you never knew? 

Isn't it sad how the sun of our memories has so easily been eclipsed by bitterness and regret? I look back and smile- half rueful and half nostalgic. 

Doesn't it hurt? Seeing the roses we picked together turning into thorns driving us apart?
 

If we could, would we do it all over again? Just to end up here? Will it be worth all the pain? The weight of knowing makes us worse than mere strangers. 

But it is over and done, the chapter closed. I have to let go of my sorrow, my hate, my regret. I have to set myself free from these shackles. These scars will heal in time. 

I say that I hate you but we can all taste the lie. 

It's time I confess that I'm a stranger too. 

Despite the hurt, I will forever be grateful to you, my stranger, for all of our sunshine and for all the lessons you taught me.