The Memories We Leave Behind

We leave parts of ourselves behind as we move through our lives.

Like shattered glass, we walk over the shards and pretend that they aren’t there.

If we just walk gingerly enough, we can walk forward without bleeding and pretend that we never broke.

But then we hear a song or smell a smell or walk past the place that the thing happened all those years ago and suddenly the sharp pains of all that happened are throbbing in your chest and it’s like no time has passed...

What do we do with these broken, discarded pieces? 
How do we mend them?
How do we glue them back together?
Do we?
Or do we simply weep at the sight of the gleaming prism scattered on the ground that once made up a whole, and is now a radiant blanket of fractals reflecting the light?

Maybe the shards themselves make up a new whole, in a new state of being... not forgotten, still as relevant as ever, just taking new form. 

They can cut, yes, the memories. They can make us cry. And they can make us laugh (oh yes) as they reflect the light that always existed inside us – visible even more now that it gleams in so many pieces.

We always were that light. And now, how we shine. In all our broken glory. Not forgotten. At once here and not, taken a new form. Memories embodied.

We are the sum of our memories, and yet not defined by them.

As we take one step forward... and another... and another...

Remember where you were.
Remember who you are.
Walk courageously towards your destination.
You are all of it and none of it,
Sweet shining light ...
It is a reflection of you.
Know where you have been.
You have so much farther to go...
I will meet you among the shining light of the stars (a reflection of your own brilliant light) as we walk each other home.