To the people I met along the way
CHAPTER 15
To the people I met along the way…
You were my saving grace, and our moments together continue to be my saving grace. To those of you I only knew for a night or a week, I remember you and I constantly think about us. To the people I have no pictures with.
To the German guys I met in Canada in some ways you were the first people I truly met traveling. You were the first true strangers I became friends with, that I’d met on one of my trips. We met the summer I left for college, I was on a road trip with a girl I had known for a few weeks at most and having you guys come along for a few days was so much fun! That trip was the first time in a long time that I felt normal. I was 17, and it was the first time I felt like a teenager, it was the first time that I wasn’t thinking about my health, my brain, my pain. You guys allowed me to be, to live. For that I will always be thankful.
To the wild Cambodian kid, I met skiing, you’re fucking awesome! You were the first new friend I made after my accident, and I needed you right at that moment. We were so young and I liked that you didn’t seem to care or understand my limitations. The limitations I felt because of my pain. We just did donuts in the parking lot after work, went to abandoned mansions. We drove, skied and just fucking did what we wanted, I needed that. I need someone to chill with who didn’t take life too seriously, someone who could talk tough shit through, but that didn’t constantly feel like he needed to. Someone to make future travel plans with, someone to dream big with me. We may never take any of the trips we planned, but it was fun making them.
To the father and son, I met at the airport in Prague. I felt like I was a part of your family for 4 days. In many ways you are my most valuable memory. You were a father to me when I needed one and you were a student to me when I needed one. In those 4 days I had some of the most insightful, interesting, moving conversations I have ever had. To the father, you gave me the space to open up to you about my deepest concerns and you offered guidance. You have been of the only men to give me fatherly guidance and speak to me as if I was your child. To the son, you were such a lovely, calm, curious soul. You asked me questions about travel and people, those are my favorite questions. You asked for my guidance and it made me feel incredibly validated in what I truly hope to achieve in life. Your father helped put me together again, emotionally, and you helped build me up. I am so thankful for that absolute shit airline for losing my ticket and putting me in that line, standing in front of you. Thank you.
To the Brit who seemed to hold at least as much trauma as me, thank you. Thank you for sharing your story with me, thank you for listening to me. That long night walking though Budapest is the only moment in my life I wish I could pause and rewind, not to change anything, just to live though it again. I absolutely adore deep conversations about family, trauma and life. Seeing how different yet similar we were raised, and seeing your outlook on life was heartwarming. You being a few years older, felt somewhat like an older brother I had been separated from years ago, and had just found again. I still replay our conversation in my head, I don’t think I will ever stop replaying it. Your ability to switch between past trauma, and present excitement was a mirroring experience. Our conversation, watching you pick out people in a crowd and talk about drunk idiots, is a memory I will forever hold in my spirit.
To all of the others, to the Canadians in Prague, to the Germans in Croatia, to the American in Prague, I hope to see you all again. I am so thankful to have met you all when I did. Without you I wouldn’t have my sweetest memories, the ones you don’t share with others, the ones you keep to yourself and just hold onto. The memories that pop up in your head when you’re sitting on the subway, and you smile. I call them idiot memories, because when you randomly smile on the subway people look at you like you’re a fucking idiot. I hope to see you all again someday; meanwhile, I’ll think of you.
The one who loves you from afar,
Call me anytime