Monday 1 June 2009

A single Moment

I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned my temp job since initially telling you that I was about to start working in an office.

There’s a girl there who I chat to a lot. If she’s not riding one guy, it’s another. She sleeps over at her mother’s house one night a week, her friend’s place the next.
She has nothing but stresses and sex in her life. Regardless of the sex, which is more than satisfactory from what I hear – I don’t envy her.
We talk a lot and it’s clear that she uses men as an escape, because she’s not happy. Her words, not mine. She’s searching constantly for stability and just like I used to do, and perhaps still do on occasions - she’s going about it in a rather unconventional manner.

I like this girl a lot. She has pockets of vibrancy which I wish for her she could hold on to. It’s awful how she worries . She often thinks her life is imminently about to crash around her. Now, as you know I worry a lot, I do. But thankfully for me I am not in my early twenties with a child.

It must be so difficult for her. She is who I would still be if I hadn’t taken a detour from my detour.

So, after slogging away in the office – (and if you believe that, then you know nothing about me...)I left work and headed to the train station. I started chatting to another girl who I’ve only seen at the office twice. She was walking the same path as me so it would have seemed rude not to chat. But not being one for small talk I extracted her life story within minutes. Of course she gave it willingly.

WoW! What a girl. She’s over come many difficulties. I always find that fascinating - how people deal with emotional hardship. A bizarre similarity to her story and mine was that her father had brought her up alone from when she was 6 months old. She was 11 when he re-married. Her mother was a drug addict.
It’s strange isn’t it, how people tend to think they are the only one to suffer their fete. And don’t you find it reassuring that life’s intrigues and struggles happen to us all? I know its stating the obvious, but still, more often than not it’s closer to home than you realise.

I am very grateful that I am not frightened of people. It enables me to learn about intricate details of their lives, character, what drives them, what makes them who they are. Of course some people are clearly a little uneasy by my chat. With those people I never probe. In fact, I don’t probe anyway come to think of it. Once the communication gate is opened people tend to let their lives, their thoughts, their feelings, flood out... They enjoy it. Don’t you? It’s release, relief, joy.

In a moment you bond. Not forever. Just for a moment. And that’s all one needs isn’t it? A moment . It takes a moment to know that another human being has cared, has listened, has asked, has laughed, has verbally stroked them.

In a moment you can receive the most precious gift another person can ever give you – a piece of themselves.