What are the odds that we meet the people we meet?

There are over 326 million people in the United States alone, so what are the odds that we meet the people we have? The chances of happening to meet someone who lives 330 miles from you, two states away, seem so slim, or 157 miles and one state away. But, somehow, it still happens. Somehow, we meet people from all over the United States, people we’d never think we’d meet.

Sometimes we meet through school, or sports, or something else. But no matter which way, they find a way into our lives.

People don’t take enough time to appreciate the people they have in their lives.

We meet these people for a reason, whether they stay in our lives or not, they were once a part of it, and we can never change that. Sometimes we wish people hadn’t come into our lives, because the thought of them now brings bad memories; but I truly believe that those bad memories just teach us a needed lesson before we can create new, better memories.

Sadly, no matter what anyone does or says, it’s hard to just forget people and let them go, especially if they’ve made a huge impact on your life, positively or negatively. There will always be things that remind you of them and there will always be the memories you have from your time with them in your life.

Hopefully at some point, those memories can be looked back on and laughed about again, even if that person hurt you in some way. And hopefully, you’ll have new, better memories with the new people that have been brought into your life.

But either way, these friendships were found over a number of miles, big or small, for a reason. They were meant to teach a lesson. They were meant to make memories. They were meant to provide you with experiences. Those experiences help shape who you are later in life and your past ones helped shape the person you are today.

I am thankful for the past experiences I’ve had because they have helped change me into the person I am right now. I’ve taken the phrase, “new year new me” to heart this year and I am proud of it.

The old memories and experiences and friendships I’ve had have just helped me realize who I want to be as a person and how lucky I am to have who I do in my life.

So, take time to appreciate the distance your friendships can cover because in the grand scheme of things, you were meant to meet the people you meet, but you were also meant to travel the distances to meet them.

A short road never gave anyone a big experience. But a long distance can have countless tales within it.