I had occasion today to look back at emails from 2008. It was a very weird experience.
Back then I was having near daily personal and professional conversations with people I have not spoken to for many years. Just reading those emails brought me back to a another time in my life, when my priorities were very different.
The most haunting email exchanges were the ones I was sharing with a close friend who has since passed away. Of course there was no way of knowing back then that tragedy was looming only a few short years away.
We are who we have always been, and yet we are also constantly in motion. Conversations between our past and our current selves can be a kind of time machine — a deeply revealing one — but they are never easy.
I am not sure I always have the courage it takes to hold such a conversation honestly. But I’d like to think I can rise to the occasion.
This is lovely to read – we are so occupied with our present and future selves, the effort to look closely at our archives eludes us, but is revealing. It takes courage but is also a joy, if only to see the depth of your efforts at reaching out so actively for so long.