handprints in the cement of life!

let me just set the stage for a sec...

...four or five years ago....

whilst fluttering through the halls of school like i was prone to do, i came across the most shy human i've ever had the pleasure of knowing.

his name is Trulan. but to me he is often: Trulan the Awesome, Trulan the Computer Geek, Trulan the Shy, Trulan the Hilarious, Trulan the Witty, Trulan the Sweet, Trulan the Surprising, Trulan the Copy Man, etc.

anyways, back to the story.

well, you know me. i'm a self-assured, intimidating little runt of a girl.

and like i said, he's shy.

well....i don't remember the exact context of our first meeting, but in the end i made him blush. and when Trulan blushes, he Blushes! his ears even turn bright red, which according to him is an annoying habit they've acquired over the years.

after our initial meeting, i often waved and said Hello as we passed in hallways. we didn't exchange many words. in fact, for the longest time, i wasn't convinced that he spoke at all!

then, one fateful day, i noticed via some friends that Trulan had a facebook. i added him on a whim and promptly forgot about it.

several weeks later, he was online so i started a chat. i remember very little of it now, though the exchanges have changed my life forever.

we're unlikely friends, that's for certain.

but i think even he would agree that we didn't just meet by chance. trulan has changed my life. he's shown me that befriending unlikely strangers can change a day, a year, a life. he explained to me the difference between FPS and Strategy computer games, though when that will come in handy i'll never know! but more than anything, he's shown me that no matter how different two people are, there's a link we all share.

we're human.

we scream.
we have sugar highs.
we cry.
we are sometimes shy.
and we laugh.

we have two eyes.
a nose.
goofy ears.
arms and legs.

we have differences.
he's tall and i'm...not.
he's skinny. i'm round.
he's quiet. i don't have an "off" button.

but we're still so much the same.

people come into our lives. sometimes they go. sometimes they linger awhile. the lesson that i continually find myself learning and reminding myself of is that it's important to be open. it's important to be kind. and it's important to love. we were never meant to walk this path alone. and i have a hunch Heavenly Father sends us the people we need when He knows that we're reaching the end of our rope.

Trulan has been an example to me of what i should strive to be like. he's gentle and kind, quiet, thoughtful, and patient. and i think i've been an example to him of how to let go, to skip along the path of life without worries.

after all, sometimes it's important to sit and meditate.

and sometimes it's important to pull out the coloring books and bubbles and laugh a little! :)


~jayc