What Time Revealed

Six months ago...

I sat beneath the Mexican sun.

The ocean was doing what oceans do

rolling in,

rolling out,

never asking permission,

never explaining itself.

And across the circle sat a woman.

Now this isn't a love story.

At least not yet.

Maybe not ever.

It's simply a story about noticing someone.

The way a person catches your attention

without trying.

The way beauty sometimes arrives quietly.

Not demanding to be seen.

Not competing for attention.

Just... being.

And every morning she would say the same words.

"Live life on life's terms."

Five words.

That's all.

Five words I've heard before.

Five words that somehow sounded different

when carried on a warm Caribbean breeze.

Because if I'm honest,

I've spent a lot of my life wanting answers.

Wanting to know what's next.

Wanting to know where the road leads

before I've finished walking the one I'm on.

But life doesn't work that way.

The tide doesn't arrive early because I'm impatient.

The sun doesn't rise because I'm ready.

And people...

People enter our lives when they enter.

And sometimes they leave.

And sometimes they stay.

And sometimes...

they simply remind us

that our hearts are still capable of wonder.

Six months have passed since that first morning.

Six months of change.

Six months of becoming.

Six months of learning that some things grow best

when they're not pulled from the ground every day

to see if the roots are taking hold.

So I'll wait.

Not because I'm afraid.

Not because I'm uncertain.

But because some things deserve time.

And because after a year of change,

I want to know what remains.

Who she is.

Who I am.

And whether the connection I felt

was merely a passing wave...

Or something deeper beneath the surface.

Because I know I'll see her again.

Beneath that same Mexican sun.

On the anniversary of a year

that changed me in ways I cannot yet measure.

And when that morning comes,

I won't be returning to discover whether she exists.

I'll be returning to discover

what time has revealed.

About her.

About me.

About the quiet possibility

that first arrived six months earlier

with a gentle smile,

a few simple words,

and the sound of the sea in the background.

Perhaps we'll share a conversation.

Perhaps we'll share a laugh.

Perhaps nothing more.

Or perhaps something beautiful.

Either way...

I'll let life arrive the same way the tide arrives.

Without force.

Without hurry.

Without demands.

Living life on life's terms.

Beneath the Mexican sun.