Hello & Goodbye.

Last night, my friend and I were looking at pictures of her son while we waited for the concert to start, when we were interrupted.

Someone in the row behind us was trying to get my attention.

I turned around to see a person I was not expecting to see, from my past. I looked him in the eyes, said hello, shook his hand and then returned to the conversation with my friend.

“Um, who was that guy behind us? He got blown off! It was clear you did not want to talk to him,” my friend playfully inquired on our car ride home.

“You’re right. I didn’t want to talk with him, but I feel I acknowledged his presence. I just had nothing to say to him. There is nothing to say.”

I’ve always been this way – If I don’t like someone, I won’t pretend to. Some might call that bitchy and rude. I call it harshly honest.

I was in the middle of a present conversation, interrupted by the past.

The past is the past; it’s meant to stay back there.

A hello is enough.

A handshake is enough.

Not everyone is meant to travel with us throughout life, that’s just the way it is.

Some people are like memories—some memories are good, and some are bad. They may float into our consciousness, but as quickly as they arrive, they go.

There’s no need to paint a coat of nostalgia on a nightmare.

If a friendship sucked, it sucked. I don’t need to make it anything other than it is or was.

It is ok not to be friends with everyone.

It is ok not to like everyone.

And–it is ok not to be liked by everyone.

Last night, I went to see one of my favorite artists and spend time with my best friend. I was not there to carry on a superficial, unnecessary conversation with someone whom I don’t care for, and who doesn’t care for me.

Just because we know each other does not obligate either of us to engage with one another.

So, I did what I always do in these situations–I looked back and acknowledged the past, grateful for the lessons I learned during that time in my life and then turned around to face the future, with no regrets.