Missing People Places and Events

My mind reflects on missing memories, missing friends

Delightful dinners cancelled with a couple 
Alike enough to enjoy but
Different enough to challenge

A conversation with a potential lifetime friend
Who was spoken to once and never again

Honored birthdays with an open seat
My memory limited to seeing the photos

Trails I passed but didn't walk
Beaches discovered but never swam

I mourn the loss of these people, places and events

So many first annuals have become once in a lifetime
So many once in a lifetimes
Part of other people's history

History does not record
Those who are not present

And present I want to be!

I want to drink deeply from the pools of spirit
I find in each soul
I want to be molded by the landscape of life
The dirt from the trail and the sand of the beach

I want to be affected, changed, and made into
The best version of me
By the people, places and events of my rich life.

I am greedy for more
I want each day peppered with people
Salted with places
Blended with meaningful activity

All of it is good to me
Mountains, rivers, oceans, cities, and
Fields of corn and grain

I don't even care what we do
To Live while I am living
That is the joy
And it is the reason I miss
The friends I have not made
The people I have not sat with
And the places I have not seem