I'VE HAD DEAD PEOPLE ON MY MIND LATELY.

I mean dead people who at one point in my life were very alive to me, and who just vanished, expired, went on to the next life...

Wherever they went, in our physical, limited dimension realm, they ceased to exist.

I could not tease them, hug them, admire them, hate them, love them, whatever them any more, in the form in which they had existed. They died. And I continued to live, in this form.

And this has happened to us all.

And a lot of these people almost disappear from our consciousness, save for occupying some tiny space in our tiny brains, rarely remembered but never forgotten.

These names will mean nothing to you, but I'm talking about:

Lee Rowson (childhood buddy struck by lightning, 1975 or so). Workmate Anna Geddes (breast cancer, 2003). Peter Berendse (former girlfriend's brother, motorcycle accident, 1973).

Ron Bonin (brother's best buddy, HIV-AIDS, 1980). Julia Young (beautiful college mate, breast cancer). Firnie Coppens (best friend's dad, heart attack, May 29, 1980). Georgiana Fisette (grandmother, old age).

LEE ROWSON

GEORGIANA FISETTE

I'm also, though, talking about people who didn't die physically, but who disappeared from our lives, never to be seen again, but still worth remembering...or impossible to forget.

People who still resonate with us...the first girlfriend/boyfriend, the teacher of terror, the marvellous mentor.

The girl you connected with on your big trip and never saw again, the guy you met in a bar and never heard from again.

People you find yourself, for no reason or for every reason, asking: "I wonder what ever happened to them?"

People who touched you, who had some impact, good or bad, who faded away...but not completely.

People like:

Sylvie Cowlie (high school hottie). Joanne Van der Graf (first "encounter"). Paulette Hauser (best high school female friend). Pat Keelan (Nerdy college guy). Gerry Bolin (high school teacher).

PAT KEELAN

There's no real point to this, except to say that I think about all these people and many more from time to time, and I assume others think of people they crossed paths with, in a big or small way.

And I like that I do.

Life isn't all about looking forward and where you're going, I believe.

It's about also looking back, and still having a sense of wonder about what went before and knowing what happened then set the direction for the path you're on now.

And part of that wonder has to be about the people that have come before...and sometimes are now gone. But not forgotten.