Impact

I used to see her every couple of months. She got me. We shared an interest in philosophy. Not the academic type – the practical and tangential. But, I got busy. I was busy making new new things. We didn’t see each other so much last year. It felt like we did – but I checked my calendar, no meetings.

Really?

A meeting might have made a difference. Could have made the difference she already made to me. She was a meteor to my dinosaurs.

What was it she said? No – it wasn’t said. It was asked.

“Why are you an angry man?”

She was right. She could see.

I fixed that anger; she did that.

And then there were the dozens of connections. She orchestrated some crazy shit. I walked around a sculpture park with a guy who was last on my list of people I should care about. I was an angry man – don’t judge. Turned out to be one hell of a walk. Game changer.

What happens when we listen? Shit happens. That’s real.

She made me laugh with her thick French accent. An American discussing philosophy with a French lady in Northern England is a cocktail of cadence and emphasis.

What happens when we take chances with people? We understand more.

She was the master of seeking to understand. But she couldn’t understand the one person who mattered most – her.

Veronique decided to check out of the game on Monday…just like that – all gone.

I’m shocked, sick, and suddenly aware.