When it comes to relationships, loving someone and being in a relationship are not mutually exclusive. In fact, you can totally have all these wonderful feelings for another without it ever being reciprocated at all – and I have learned early on in life that that was totally okay.

As a youngster, I have always been ‘brave’ enough to like / love people who would never give me time of day. I have always believed that truly loving or admiring someone did not have to include them loving me. Just like John Mayer’s song, I have always believed that life will return that love to me somehow and this is what makes me feel grateful about the love that I come home to daily.

That being said, I cannot help but feel a wave of pride and joy towards people I have admired in the past who are currently winning in life. There’s that sense of, “I always knew this person can do it” that overwhelms me when I hear of their successes. It makes me feel nostalgic and makes me ruminate on how mysteriously wonderful life is. Life never turns out the way we want it to but that doesn’t mean that we cannot be happy for those who are living the lives we initially thought we wanted.

I am letting myself chew on that last sentence. It’s so liberating to ‘bade’ that sister life from the shore and appreciate what we have in this moment because the life we are living could be someone else’s sister life as well.