OdE tO iMmOrTaL MeMoRiEs

One night last week I got home late and my roommate's boyfriend was in our tv room watching TV. I sat down and we had a nice chat while he waited for my roommate to come back downstairs. He mentioned that he had been talking to one of my other roommates and the minute he mentioned her name I went, "Awh, Allison!" He laughed and said, "You know, every person in this house gives that same reaction whenever I say her name."

You know those people in your life, that the second their name is mentioned your heart does the equivalent of a jig, a laugh and a mental hug? Those people that by knowing their acquaintance is an absolute privilege? I've been really lucky to have amazing people in my life and amazing experiences to share with them. Whenever I hear a Christmas song, certain ones more than others, I get nostalgic. In a way it's always bothered me that these memories, instead of making me 100 percent happy, often leave a small twinge in my heart.

I've realized that of course I'm not sad these people are in my life, but sad that the experience was so amazing and can never be replicated. Knowing that we live in a world that is so touch-and-go, time so quickly spent. It's sad that these happy memories are so finite and the celebration of them so quickly passed over. If the sentiments of Christmas giving, forgiving, demonstrations of love, memory-making were more sustainable year round, perhaps my happy reflections wouldn't be tinged with that bit of sadness.

That being said, I'm grateful for every one of them and look forward to sooo many more (impromptu reunion ladies?! SO excited.) As dear Tennyson tells us, it's better to have loved lived and lost than never to have loved lived at all!