Relationships

Relationships. 

Our lives are made up of relationships. We are friends, lovers, spouses, parents, children, sisters, brothers, employers, employees, teachers, students, etc. it's all about people, and how we relate to them.

The cutesy quotes abound if you do a quick search online:

“People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.”

“It's the friends we meet along the way that help us appreciate the journey.”

“Only those who care about you can hear when you're quiet.”

“A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself”

“Relationships don’t always make sense. Especially from the outside”

“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You know that your name is safe in their mouth”

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around”

Forgive me, I don't have the author of any of these - not that seeing it attributed to anyone on the internet makes it true. I saw the musical, Wicked, with my daughter and her friend last year. I love all of the songs, but this one, in particular, always makes me smile.

I want to always be the one in any relationship that makes the other person a better version of themselves. I want to be the encourager, the cheerleader, the one who can be trusted with the deepest of secrets, the dreams, the fears. I want the other person to feel that because they knew me, they have been changed, not just forever, but for good.

Partial lyrics, For Good, Written by Stephen Lawrence Schwartz • Copyright © Universal Music Publishing Group

I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you...
Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good

It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend...
Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good