Kimberlee K.

I was listening to a podcast the other day and one of the hosts talked about how we often we only see people once in our whole lives.

She described it in the context of getting her eyebrows done. She lives in New York, a bustling city of millions, and makes an appointment every couple months to get her eyebrows done by a specific woman at a specific salon.

When she goes in, she visits with the woman and whoever else is in the salon that day, but when she leaves she realizes that she will likely never see the other customers again. Because what are the chances they get another appointment on the same day at the same time?

She said she often considers saying, have a nice life! Not in a sarcastic or negative way, but as a genuine sentiment. I’ll likely never see you again, so truly I hope you have a wonderful life!

I like to believe that there are no coincidences of who we run into and when. I find comfort in believing that there is a purpose to everyone we meet. But it is still wild to think that there are some people we will meet and interact with and then never see again. And it reminds me of the constant wonder and overwhelm I experience when I allow myself to realize how many lives are being lived at the same time, and how many things are happening each and every day.

We are often reminded that you never know what someone is going through, and that’s true. When we have these short, small interactions with people, we likely won’t ever move beyond small talk. We are all hustling from one thing to the next, carrying ideas, plans, and countdowns around in our head by the dozens.

Our lives are so BIG in our own eyes. So overwhelming and complicated. And sometimes it’s hard to see around ourselves and remember that everyone around us has the same tunnel vision.

So I guess what this has me thinking is that, on any given day, we might see someone we will never see again. And whatever we say or do will likely get swept up into the chaos of life and forgotten, blurred out by everything else going on in the lives of both us and them. We will go our separate ways, and live lives full of joy and pain and wonder and hardship. And no one will understand it all except you, except them, except me.

We aren’t perfect. We won’t always say the nicest thing or act in the most polite way. Sometimes circumstances will make us awkward or rude or impatient or self-centered. And that’s okay, we’re human.

But on days when we can help it, when we can see the opportunity to be kind, or perhaps to not be unkind, we can take it. We can smile, we can show extended patience or empathy. We can remember that we will likely never see them again and, rather than use that as an excuse to use our anonymity for our benefit, we can use it for theirs. We can do a small, good thing. We can blur into the background as someone who simply didn’t make their day harder. We can offer a smile and well wishes on their day, hoping they extend to the rest of their life.

“Have a good one!”

And a good one after that, and after that, and after that.

Live a wonderful life, I mean it.