I walked past you on the street, we might have been strangers just meant to cross paths once, but accidentally, we ended up looking into each other's eyes. And with just that one look, I found myself wondering about the kind of person you could be.
What else was there, other than what I could see, what you might be like… what you really are like. I wondered about the face you might put when being extremely happy, or the one when feeling devastated. I wondered if you twitched your eyes when you were tired, or if maybe, you also stared into the nothingness when you were sad. It made me wonder about us, about all of us, about what we all are like, other than what can already be seen at first glance… Man, woman, young, old, students, workers, tall, short…
There are so many things that could be said from just having a quick look at somebody but I know, especially speaking about my own self, that is never all there is. Making me at times wonder who we really are, all of us strangers on that street.
You, perhaps my morning crush on today's subway. Or that person on the bus smiling a bit awkwardly from the distance. You, the old lady walking alone through the streets, making me want to lower my pace and walk along with you, to keep you accompanied. Perhaps you, the girl crying on that bench, making me feel that heartache you were feeling with you too. Maybe you, the handsome guy I would have liked to have had the courage to smile too when ordering my coffee this morning.
I wonder about your story, about what might be making your eyes smile so brightly, or why somebody else's eyes might look so profoundly sad. I wonder why you might be walking with your shoulders down, or what event might have given you that smirk on your face. I wonder about you and your story because they matter and at times, I would like to hear about them too.
Lives are busy, spaces are crowded and we are so preoccupied with our own life, that we forget about the rest. We just go by thousands of people, like ghosts, without leaving any impression, as if we all had never been there, to begin with, as if it had never happened; but at times there are people like you that make me question stuff, people who evoke feelings, people who seem to have a story to tell, stories that I would like to hear.
I would like to hear your thoughts, maybe help to make your pain a little bit more bearable, or share an accomplice smile to which we are the only ones knowing the reason behind. I would like to hear you out because we all have a story to tell and they all matter.
To all the strangers I crossed, who are you? What are your stories? Are you someone who I am supposed to just cross paths with once… or have we maybe crossed each others lives many times before without neither of us even realizing it? Will you always be just a stranger… or maybe, are you someone who is going to play a big part in my future and we just don't know about it yet. Have we meet before... perhaps in a previous life, being that sense of familiarity what is making us wonder about each other?
The truth is that we are strangers. We do not know who we are, who we might become or who we have been until now. Yet at that second when we crossed looks, you stepped out of that dark mist of people, becoming a little bit more real and making me wonder about your deepest thoughts. Perhaps I felt a connection that triggered my curiosity and made me want to know all about your mind and soul, all those small things that make you special. Things that might have felt so small that you never felt the need to tell anyone else before.
We seem to be just strangers, but who knows maybe we have been at the same spot at the same time many times before yet our red threads never pulled us close enough. Maybe we woke up at the same side of the bed and the time this morning, or we wear each other's favorite scent, maybe we smile at the same things or we eat m&ms the same way. Maybe we will be each other's favorite person at one point in our lives, each other's future friends, or even the one that breaks our heart, maybe we were one of those strangers on each other's already lost childhood memories…
Maybe without knowing any of this, we crossed paths, only feeling that energy pulling us closer, for no apparent reason. Maybe you also wondered about what kind of person I am. Maybe, just maybe you felt it too. Yet we parted ways again without answering any of those questions. Leaving all those maybes and also leaving me wondering about who I am.
Who am I? I might have been that stranger, looking at you with curiosity on the train, or the one that half-smiled because she was too shy to look at you in the eye and smile brightly. Maybe I was the one looking at the floor with a blank stare while being lost into her thoughts. And I could very easily have been the one smiling brightly when looking through the train's window as we passed that bridge today. Maybe, I was also that person whose eyes were almost filled with tears, trying very hard to not break down in the middle of that crowded street. Maybe we have never crossed paths before, but just in case you wonder…
I can be that person that seems confident, but will also be shy to say hello first. The one smiling at you awkwardly if I do not know you, but smiling at you as brightly as if you were the sun, once we have become close. I am that person that will be there no matter what if you need me. I am one of those people who weirdly does certain things only in even numbers, like eating candy or messing with the volume on the radio. The kind of person who likes to eat her favorite foods at the end, saving the best for last. The one doing a happy dance when she sees or eats delicious foods. That person, who seems so serious, but never stops smiling and playing around after I comfortable enough to be myself around you.
I am that person who likes to enjoy the rain, watching it fall, feeling it, smelling it, walking on it and listening to it. The one looking at how the new drops fall over the accumulated water, feeling as if all of it, would be washing my troubles away. I am the one that might look away or get red in embarrassment if you stare at me a bit too long. The one that feels happy at something as simple as getting her favorite colors on her favorite candy, just because they look pretty and colorful. Yet also the one who will insist that it is because they taste better, even if they all taste exactly the same. I am the one getting lost into her thoughts while looking deeply at the stars on a cold night because the intensity of the dark sky together with those shiny stars makes everything else seem small in comparison.
I am that person that might smile and act like everything is fine, even when I feel broken inside, but also the one who is taking her time to learn how to cure her own wounds, one at the time. I am one of those who enjoy feeling warm at home on a cold night but also feels sad about those people who might not have a warm place to stay, so decides to open the windows for a bit and let the fresh breeze in just to end up rolled up in blankets, because can not stand well the cold.
The one that looks into the fire and wonders how does it all work. Someone who knows her favorite movies by heart, but still reacts to things as if it was her first time watching. Someone who likes to see the beauty in the small things, even in adversity, like a flower coming out of the pavement, or a lonely Sunray coming through the cloudy sky on a rainy day. I am that person who gets mixed up with languages, speaking a new form of dialect that sometimes only I can understand.
Someone who enjoys getting lost in a new city, just to find herself once again during the process. Someone constantly seeking motivation and challenges but who also hates waking up early, needing 15 alarms to do so. Someone who at times ends up making small messes around her yet laughing afterward to ease the embarrassment. I am many things, many simple and many complicated. I am a mix of ideals, experiences and feelings. All those books I have read, all the people I have met, all the places I have visited, all the times I have laughed and all the ones I have cried. All that music that made me feel something, all those art pieces that once gave me goosebumps. But also all those mistakes I made.
I am all that and many things more… I do not know if I should have been the person explaining this, maybe you just ended here by chance, maybe you were supposed to find out for yourself, maybe it is something that makes you uncomfortable for being so raw…
Maybe you will be someone confirming those facts in the future, while learning many more on the process, maybe, just maybe, because neither of us knows. The truth is that we might have crossed paths on a Saturday morning, or a Tuesday evening, the truth is that we might not know each other at all.. The truth is that right now we are just strangers...
But for all I know, you could be exquisitely extraordinary, without even knowing it yourself. You do not know me, but maybe, just maybe, we have crossed paths too and you were also left wondering about me... Perhaps one day, we might have some pieces of each other's puzzle too…
And maybe, if in the future we pass each other on the city, in the midst of one these concrete jungles, where everyone is trying to survive, maybe, just maybe we can really look at each other in the eyes and just smile. Smiling because now we know…
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