When we realise the temporarily of encounters, gratitude comes even more naturally.

Unique. Unrepeatable. Moments.
Instant experiences. Memory. Selection.
Sensations. Feelings. Emotions.

I think of a face in discourse. 
A laughter at a joke.
A warm sensation in the context of a crowd.
A revealing thought in connection to someone I met in the past.
I shared a landscape with.
Work. Friendship.

At the news of an old friend’s departure, we are transported to the remembrance of those instants together.
How we are shaped by the experiences we had together and how often they illustrate our past which we bring to the present more often than we realise.

And when he is no longer among us how nothing changes.
We stay the same, the same memories, just with the added information we won’t meet again. Not physically.
Whilst in life we will never be apart.

And this brings to the attention that moments are indeed unique. Unrepeatable. And on their own, enough.

“The secret of a full life is to live and relate to others as if they might not be there tomorrow, as if you might not be there tomorrow.

It eliminates the vice of procrastination, the sin of postponement, failed communications, failed communions. This thought has made me more and more attentive to all encounters. meetings, introductions, which might contain the seed of depth that might be carelessly overlooked.

This feeling has become a rarity, and rarer every day now that we have reached a hastier and more superficial rhythm, now that we believe we are in touch with a greater amount of people, more people, more countries. This is the illusion which might cheat us of being in touch deeply with the one breathing next to us.