On a cloudy Seattle day, I sat at home, having quite a lovely time. I had woken up feeling motivated and got right to my day. Meditation grounded me into my body, and I really got into my flow through yoga. I did several other, feel-good self-care tasks and found myself sitting on the couch. I picked up some bubbles a good friend had sent me and acted like a small child filled with wonder. I probably blew bubbles for a solid ten minutes. I was intrigued. The last time I really slowed down and payed close attention to their properties, had to have been years, if not decades ago.
Today just felt different. I had a new perspective. As I inquisitively studied the bubbles, I had one of my many ‘Aha!’ moments. It may seem simple, but what I found had deep truth. Relationships are like bubbles. And bubbles are like relationships!
You create, or more often stumble upon, relationships because you want to have meaningful entertainment or to experience the beauty of life. You create all these beautiful bubbles. Some are small, some large. Some are singles, some doubles or quadruples, and some even form in curious clumps of various sizes. One unique quality about them is they don’t last forever, or even any considerable length of time. Some explosively pop, while others fade into the curious abyss. Then there are the ones that start to fade, and right when you think they’re about to disappear, they pop into a micro bubble and quickly float up and disappears as a speck. Whatever strange way they go, the bottom line is they don’t last.
But here is the real question. Do we get mad, angry or harbor regret because we so deeply admired their beauty and then they vanished? Absolutely not! We are happy and full of wonder for the magic they possess. They are not meant to last, so why cling so heavily? And would we dare think “Well goodness, I miss the bubbles so much, I’m never going to blow bubbles every again!!”? No! How silly that would be!
The point is to create them and enjoy them in their time for exactly what they are. We should take in their beauty, giggle like a child and maybe even try to catch one on your finger ever so gently, so it doesn’t pop for just a moment longer. The best part of bubbles is, when they are gone, you can just make more. There is an abundance of bubbles, and each one is as interesting as the next. They really allow us to get a peek of life’s true beauties.
Just because something is finite, does not lessen the value of its experience. So live life, enjoy your relationships, platonic or otherwise. It probably won’t last your whole life. That is unimportant though because value isn’t found over the life, but rather in each moment. That is all that truly matters.