I thought to myself, “We’re all different now…”

Some of us have babies.
Some of us will…soon.

Some of us have mustaches now.

Well, when I come to think of it, we were all different then…too.
But we wouldn’t say it. We all generally liked the same things – listened to the same music and played the same video game till 4am, then slept till noon and did the same thing all over again. 

I loved it. I loved the normalcy and waking up in the middle of the night to see the DVD menu playing over and over again loud as hell. Of course, no one wanted to turn it off so you hope you’ll just fall back asleep. But I never did.

Tip-toeing over sleeping heads I pressed the glowing power symbol and all went dark. Here came the slow and slightly muffled sounds of snoring and smacking. A sea of adolescence and long hair. My best friends. 

When I stop to look around now, our lives have shifted. Some of us have moved away to follow other mysteries and opportunities and some of us do the same, just a little closer to home. I find myself these days, asking which is more mysterious or beneficial and confiding that we’re all where we need to be. Nothing more. Nothing less.

People come in and out of our lives and leave their mark. Some hurt. Some take more than they give. Some are funny and some…you spend the rest of your life with. 

They’re like good stories. Some you keep on your shelves and glance at every now and then…remembering where you were when you read it and how it made you feel. Some, you still read over and over again because it’s just so damn good.
And some, you still haven’t finished. There…they’ll sit and maybe one day, you’ll read it when you need to read it. 

I like to think about how God moves us into places - places that are far away and scary for a while – Places like dive bars, cafes, academia and Hollywood. You always remember where you came from. 

And…well…we always have that. 
Our stories.
Like books on a shelf. 
Reminding us of beauty;

and all those cans of Mountain Dew.