Hey, I remember you...!

Some of my articles take some serious research. Some more than others. This one won't. It is more like a self-cleansing than anything else, because it comes from the heart.

I hope those individuals I am discussing here are not offended, even though they are not mentioned by name. Most often, it is a topic that is central in my mind when I write. This time, it is about people. People in my life that either have meant something to me at one time, or those that still do. People I love, because I don't know how to feel otherwise about them.

I used to be someone else. We all did. We grow, we change, we become. If we're not doing that this very moment, it does not mean that it has not taken place before, or it will again in the future. There may be a reason we are not changing and growing right now. But, like everything else in life, that will change, too. Try and stop changes in your own life, and you will realize what I am talking about.

Most everyone has been to a class reunion, or a family reunion, or some place where there is contact with someone not seen for some time. You might hear comments like, "My, how you have grown!" or "You've held up well!" or something of the sort. Or, you may hear comments like, "Guess who's right over there?" or "I bet he hasn't changed a bit - still the lying scoundrel he always was." Physical changes, those that are visible are easy to represent or to recognize. Internal changes are not.

Perhaps there was, at the family reunion, the rotten creepy uncle that always drank too much and made an ass of himself. You know, the one you used to avoid as much as possible. And, here he is again. What is the first thing you think? "Here we go again." And he may prove you right. . . or he may not.

Even if it was not about drinking, and it wasn't an uncle, and it wasn't a family reunion, there are people that knew us when, that remember me or you as we were. Maybe they didn't like certain things about us, then. I don't blame them, in my case, because I didn't like myself very much then, either. But I have changed. They have changed. Everybody changes.

I know it is easier to dislike or hold ill feelings toward someone that has wronged another. I am guilty of this, myself. This is especially true if the relationship was a destructive one. It is a lot easier to do that, to perceive them as they used to be, instead of believing that they have changed, that they are different. It is easier to shun than it is to understand that perhaps they have healed the part of their life that was damaged, and they have moved on. It is easier to hate than to know that they would prefer that you forgive them, and move on with them, too. Been there.

Understand this, about the person you knew: it wasn't a matter of starting over. They progressed through and beyond their perfectly planned series of lessons, and now they may find themselves in your life, again. They are not the same as you remember them to be. Whether your contact with them is to be brief or prolonged, they will be in your life long enough for you to learn this lesson, so pay attention: Things are different. You are different, they are different. Nothing is the same now as it was then.

Who am I? I am not so much the person you remember from yesterday or perhaps years ago, as I am the person that those experiences have made me, today.

I am the one who did the best I could at the time, and now I do better because I know better. This is the new and improved me, because I learned and became responsible for that knowledge; I grew, based upon that responsibility; and, as a result of being responsible for what I knew, I changed. I am ready for new places and people, new experiences and new lessons, too. And if I haven't learned all the lessons that I was supposed to learn with someone, I will learn them with someone else. Even if old friends or family members choose not to participate, I will move on. I must.

You can help in this process, you can be my partner in the lessons of love an growth, or you can continue in your delusion that I have not changed, that I continue to be the person you knew and despised, whatever your reasons. I will grow and become, with or without you.

I am me. That is who I am, today, right now. But, believe me, because our paths have crossed, I will never be the same again. And I am grateful for that, even if it was painful for both of us.

Besides, you are not just as I remember you, either!

Peace and Light, Michael