Much Ado About Nothing

Recently I've found myself writing out a lot of my posts before I post them, not so much because I'm a perfectionist dead set on having a rough draft or something but more because I get really bored in class and my mind naturally wanders here (where else?).
This time, though, I'm not doing that.  I'm just writing.
Don't you think it funny the impact that people have on our lives?  The impact that lasts forever, sometimes long after the person is no longer a part of our lives?  Years, even lifetimes, later, the smallest, seemingly inconsequential things that meant absolutely nothing at the time bring back scores of memories in an instant.
I love that.
Even though sometimes it's sad and sometimes it hurts, I love those moments.
I think I love those moments because they always remind me of someone who, someday, meant something to me.  He or she may no longer be a part of my life, or at least not in the same capacity, but the memory stands just the same--untouchable, untarnished, and forever in my mind.
I'm not so much talking about reminders about people who have been and will be my life forever--my family and my lifelong friends--for I think about them all the time anyway.  I'm talking about the people who, for whatever reason, have come and gone.  I love those moments that remind me of them.
I'm talking about the people who were my friends during a certain time in my life; I'm talking about the people I met at camp; I'm talking about the people who existed on the perimeters of my life; I'm talking about the people I had classes with in college; I'm talking about the friends of friends I've met throughout my life.
In addition to people who have come and gone, I'm talking about people whose roles have changed in my life.  I'm talking about forever friends whose closeness waxes and wanes; I'm talking about boys I thought I loved, as much as any thirteen-year-old or sixteen-year-old or twenty-year-old or whatever can love anybody, boys I still love but in a wholly different way.  
I'm talking about people I never dreamed would mean what they have, people I never imagined impacting my life the way they have.  I'm talking about the people that pop into my head, as vivid as a picture in front of my face.
I hear a song; I see a sight; I hear a voice or a joke; I see a commercial or a movie; I say some certain thing; I see a picture; one little tiny thing happens and, for better or worse, a memory is standing before me, reminding me of how different my life would be without that person.  Things I thought meant nothing end up meaning everything.
It's sort of like that quote from You've Got Mail:
"The odd thing about this form of communication is that you're more likely to talk about nothing than something, but I just want to say that all this nothing has meant more to me than so many somethings."
I'm all for the inconsequential, the nothing, the irrelevant, the unimportant.  I'm right there with you, Kathleen Kelly.