The phone rang and when I answered I could hear a familiar voice behind a wall of tears. I need you, she said.
Sometimes in this life a door closes gently and allows you to gracefully exit with a bow. Other times, doors slam, hard and fast. Those are the most fascinating ones. Those are the ones where change is so imperative in our lives that the door must close without question. There is no time to think, just time to act. I can think back to many of these moments in my life, and what came after was always beautiful.
But before the beautiful, when I was stuck in disbelief and grasping at an understanding, I have always been drawn to someone. It is life’s little gift to get you through. I can think back to a friend I called in the middle of the night, she dropped everything and lived by my side, when one of my doors slammed. Not just for a moment, but for days until she knew I was okay. I can think of others who have tried to help me reason and understand with countless hours of conversation. In my life these friends hold a special place, a soft place, in my heart.
So to know I got to be that person means the world to me. We later marveled at how I got to be here just at the right time. How we met in Germany, and when she left to move to the US, we had no idea where I would be.
What a beautiful reminder that you are always right where you are supposed to be. Just sometimes, doors must slam to get you there.
