I Hate Walking Away
- Thread starter just me
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[MENTION=680]just me[/MENTION]
I realize this is an extremely personal question, but why do you almost feel guilty not doing so? I ask because I can relate to this.
There's a quote from Kerouac's On the Road that has always stuck out in my mind for circumstances like this.
Not that I'm saying you're falling in love with people you meet, but that it really can be hard to see people you just feel walk the opposite way. It's a hard pill to swallow.
Not that I'm saying you're falling in love with people you meet, but that it really can be hard to see people you just feel walk the opposite way. It's a hard pill to swallow.
Isn't it amazing, though, when you click with someone like that? It's a bit of a rush because it happens so rarely, for me at least. I admire your resolve because I never can just walk away from those people, even though it would be better for me at times.
I can kinda relate. When I was 18 or 19 my older sister volunteered me to hang out with her best friend's brother who was visiting from AZ. We had so much fun together and it was like we had always known each other even though we only spent a few days together. We had so much in common the conversation never stopped. Well he went back home and I have never heard from him again but I think he would have been a really awesome friend 
What if the moment was all you were supposed to have? Lament for what you don't have or cherish what you did. I don't have any issue with walking away or saying goodbye. Beginnings and endings happen for reason. Merry Met, Merry Part, Merry meet again.
Gone From My Sight, by Henry Van Dyke
I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side,
spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts
for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck
of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.
Then, someone at my side says, "There, she is gone"
Gone where?
Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast,
hull and spar as she was when she left my side.
And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.
Her diminished size is in me -- not in her.
And, just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone,"
there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices
ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"
I am standing upon the seashore. A ship, at my side,
spreads her white sails to the moving breeze and starts
for the blue ocean. She is an object of beauty and strength.
I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck
of white cloud just where the sea and sky come to mingle with each other.
Then, someone at my side says, "There, she is gone"
Gone where?
Gone from my sight. That is all. She is just as large in mast,
hull and spar as she was when she left my side.
And, she is just as able to bear her load of living freight to her destined port.
Her diminished size is in me -- not in her.
And, just at the moment when someone says, "There, she is gone,"
there are other eyes watching her coming, and other voices
ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"
I was just thinking of this phenomenon today! My good friend and I recently went to a bar (which I rarely do) and met some genuinely nice guys. They wound up being our protectors for most of the night and dancing with us without being touchy feely creeps. They were also Marines which I have a TON of respect for and one of them in particular I clicked with. He was reading the memoirs of one of the men who inspired the HBO mini-series The Pacific and I was about to read it. He was also very funny, down to earth and attractive. I asked him about what kind of woman he was looking for and when he turned the question on me I was surprised. Well, not surprised as he was by my answer. I wasn't wearing my ring and think he assumed i was on the market. I was so enjoying our rapport until then! And what's even more sad is that he left without fanfare. After about an hour of sporadic conversation and dancing he simply said, "Bye" and was out the door.
I remember turning to my friend and saying, "Is it weird that I'm sad I'll never see him again?" I mean, I understand why we didn't walk away as friends but it was hard for me to adjust to the notion.
I remember turning to my friend and saying, "Is it weird that I'm sad I'll never see him again?" I mean, I understand why we didn't walk away as friends but it was hard for me to adjust to the notion.
I have had to walk away from some of the best friendships I have ever known. Life it just that way sometimes. It was sad to leave, but then again I consider myself very fortunate to have met these people in the first place, nevermind having such a close aquaintance. I guess I have learned to hold things very lightly in this world.
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