List #162: Those People You Want to Avoid

• The Old Boss. This is the one that put you threw hell before you had enough strength to quit. It's the boss that bullied you, gave you grief when you took a sick day, and may have even forced you to sign an unfair contract. It's the boss who wrote you passive aggressive notes and never answered any of your question directly. It's the boss who asked if you'd be challenged at your next adventure when you put in your recognition. Not that any of this matters anyway because you heard through this grapevine went and did the same stuff to others after you left and may or may not be having a little bit of a breakdown. But still, it's the not the boss you want to run into at a restaurant. Ever.
• The Flame that Extinguished. This isn't the person who broke your heart. But definitely the person you want to take your heart, but refused. They are the one who, despite all of their good, used you in ways for their gain. But also because you let them. They are the person who could have had your greatness, but just wanted it on their terms without compromise. They are the one who kept shoveling excuses in your direction and you kept letting them dig deeper. They make you sad, but not devastated. Because there is nothing you can do to convince them otherwise.
• The Friend from Back in the Day. Maybe they are a friend from grade school, or high school, even college. But at one point in both of your lives, you two were peas in a pod. Tying up the landline and telling each other everything. But these days your lives have grown so apart and you're no better friends than you are with half of the assorted crowd on Facebook. It's not ill-will between you. Just time and life changes. 
• The One Who Broke Your Heart. Most of don't get through life without getting a little gutted. And eventually we move up and on. And our lives are so much better than they were back when that person was in them. But so much of this moving and upward depended on them vanishing from the folds on your life. You got a point where you had nothing left to say to them and then they simply weren't part of your version of the city anymore. 

And time marches on and all of these people (and many more) aren't in your life anymore. And it feels different and light and though not always good, mostly good. But in actuality, these people are out there. They haven't left your world completely and sometimes they are circling around the same places you are. And then one day, you run into them on the street. You hear they are having drinks with people you know. You happen to sit next to them in a crowded restaurant. And you find yourself wondering just what in the world you do with them for a few moments of the new part of your life. With so much to say and so little to say at the same time. What you'd say if given a world where words don't cut forever, or what you'd say if there were no repercussions in revenge or anger or love or indifference. But you know better. You are better. And life keeps moving.