People come and go, that is just a fact of life. The older you get you realize, it's a sad fact. I know we all come and go for a reason. You know, everyone you meet, you meet for a reason. They may stay or go, but it's all about what they teach you for the moment. Even if the moment was meant to be fleeting, once an impact is made, it leaves a mark that can leave a longing.
Redditor u/jillysue wanted to chat about those people who still leave a hole in our hearts by asking... Of the people who are still alive but have drifted out of your life, who do you wonder about the most and why?I have been doing theatre for over a decade. I've lost count of the number of shows I've done. Which means I have no idea the amount of actors I've worked with. Or the amount of humans I've connected with. And the number of souls I've shared with. There are so many I miss. And even if I can't remember their names, clearly I'm not alone....
Buddy
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My buddy from 1993-2003. He was a part of my daily/weekly life for an entire decade. I was the best man at his wedding. He married a lovely woman and she and I were even friends.
They moved away to a new town and started a family. We last went to a ballgame together in 2011. I never heard from him again after that. In that 10 years I was sure we would be friends for life. I did not expect that we would drift apart, but it happened.
The Kid at 15...
Kid I knew when I was 15. We weren't close friends, but he called me up in the middle of the night once to tell me he was going to kill himself. He hung up on me and wouldn't answer his phone after that.
I woke up my mom and convinced her to drive me to his house at like 3 am. He came out and was fine, he was just completely shocked I actually came to check on him.
He was really thankful that I cared at all. His home life was pretty crummy and he moved away to stay with his grandma soon after that. After he moved out of state we lost touch. That was 20+ years ago and I still wonder if his life got better. I hope he did.
Shannon
When I was seven years old, I had a best friend named Shannon. One day she didn't come to school, and nobody answered at her house when my mom called. A month later I got a phone call from her and she said they had to go away and she missed me, then the call cut out like someone took the phone and hung up on her. I never heard from her again.
I assume she and her family went into witness protection or something similar. I hope they made it through and she grew up okay.
Hey Friend
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A good friend of mine that I've known since 4th grade.
His mother died from Huntington's and he tested positive for the gene for it which means, as far as I am aware, he can get it. I know he's done well for himself over the years but he still creeps into my mind from time to time wondering how he is.
I Just Knew
Once was with a guy in my wedding. Good friends but he moved far away. He came back for the wedding but never really saw him since. It was kinda a lesson in life that people don't just kinda stick in your life they are either there or not.
Another friend, best friend from high school.
Was in his wedding around 10 years after high school. Driving back I realized I was probably never going to talk to him again and haven't. I just knew. I'm very grateful for our friendship and somethings are just meant for a certain time.
See there? Everyone has that someone or three. Whether it's family, friend, teacher or stranger... each soul we pass by has an imprint to leave. Let's hear about more...
Hoon
When I was a child and living with my parents, we rented our basement to a man named Hoon.
He was super nice to us and even tutored my brother and I in school. The coolest thing was that he was super into astronomy and every so often, he set up his telescope in our backyard to look at stars and the moon and invited us to look as well. He became like family to us and when my parents decided to tear down our house and build a new place.
Hoon came along with us to live in a temporary space until the house was built, and then moved back to our new house as our tenant again. During this period, Hoon also drove my brother and I to school as we were not living within walking distance from our temporary space. After 1-2 years, one day my parents said that Hoon moved back to Malaysia and we never saw him again.
My then friend, who was another one of our tenants, told me that Hoon died and my parents were lying to me. I asked my parents about this but they said that isn't true. I think my then friend was just messing with me. I always wondered why he suddenly moved and haven't been able to find any online presence of him.
A Question...
His nickname was Question. Kid from high school used to come sit with us at lunch. Great guy, super nice.
Every. Single. Thing. He. Said. Was. A. Question?
He would ask you about your entire day.
Where you got your new shoes. Ask about your haircut. I would ask him the same questions and he wouldn't answer me, kind of stare off and almost ignore the question completely. Then he would ask you another question.
Oh Brother
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Runescape user Lonewolf1039. You made my childhood amazing, bro. Countless hours playing one of my childhood favorites with an online friend. We called each other brother.
If you're still out there, MK Groudon misses you, man.
Off the Earth
When I went backpacking around SE Asia I went with no particular plans. I ran into a Polish paratrooper my second day there who used me to get a couple of girls to go out for drinks with him (us) since I said "hey" to him earlier in the day. He wasn't going anywhere in particular either so we spent the next two months on the road going to 5 different countries.
The guy was literally my brother for those two months.
We parted ways when I had to go to a country he couldn't get a visa for and it was where I was to catch my flight home. We still talked daily for a few weeks and we were talking about starting a business then he falls off the face of the earth. I'm positive his dad was a someone so he didn't talk much about certain aspects of his life.
He didn't have any social media and he didn't renew the domain he hosted his email on so no way of contacting him. Even friends who we met along the way frequently ask if I've heard from him since they wanted to connect with him again.
I keep hoping one of these days we'll run into each other at a cafe or something by the waterfront having a beer like we did traveling.
X & Y
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I made a lot of questionable choices in my later teen years and early 20s, before I was capable of using solid judgment. I wonder about the people I unintentionally hurt, and I wonder if I should apologize a decade later.
I wonder what they would feel or think if I crossed their minds. I wonder if they've forgiven me and considered giving me the benefit of the doubt, or if they'll always remember me as "the one who did x" to them or "didn't do y." I feel a lot of regret and it still brings me a lot of shame and I let it hold me back a lot.
Bye Girl
I worked with a girl back in my early 20s when I was still in the service industry. We would hang out pretty regularly. I had a bit of a crush on her. I really thought there may have been something there...
Anyways. She stopped showing up to work. Everyone just assumed that she had quit. She was a bit of a wild child. Moved around a lot and had a bunch of different serving jobs.
So nobody really thought twice about it. (People just stop showing up all the time in that line of work.)
A few weeks later we found out that her family/police had been searching for her. Apparently she disappeared. Still think about it a lot actually. I'm guessing she's dead. But you never know.
I'm Good. Thanks Lady...
I often wonder what happened to the girl that hit me with her car that icy night and took my leg. It's been over 25 years now and I don't hold any animosity towards her (never did, it was just an accident). I hope she went on to have a good life. Mine has had it's ups and downs but I'm in the best place I've ever been now. I'd just like to have the chance to reassure her that I'm doing fine.
The Spaz...
In third grade, there was this black kid (only one in our grade) who was absolutely hilarious. He was a complete spaz and the whole class ate it up. Then one day he gave out invitations to his birthday party at some arcade, mini golf, and go kart place. Every kid's dream. The popular girl in the class laughed and said "why would I go to this?" and threw out the invite. Several classmates followed.
The day of the party comes, and it turns out it was literally his family and me that showed up. He didn't seem to care, but you could see the hurt in his parent's eyes. Honestly, that party was an absolute blast because it meant more tokens for each of us.
After that school year ended, his family moved to DC and I never saw him again. I still think about him sometimes to this day. Kids can be so cruel.
Joy Boy
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My best friend from elementary school. He was so genuine and full of joy. I hope growing up didn't take that part away from him.
Call me Stephanie...
I was about 12 when there was this girl in my class who would talk to me when I was bullied badly at that point in my life. At first I thought it was a trick to bully me but she was genuine and actually talked to me like I was human. Of course I instantly crushed on her but aside hormones, she really was a kind hearted person who was pretty intelligent.
She always seems to be resourceful by adapting to any situations and just had this optimism that i haven't seen before.
On the day last day of school I was trying so hard to ask her for her number because I really felt like she was a friend and just a wonderful person in general. But I was too nervous and we both stared at our shoes for a little while before bidding farewell.
Man I really wonder how u been Stephanie, I really do hope u have an amazing life because u deserve it more than anyone I know.
A New Life
A friend of mine was going on a canoeing trip once and never got back, a view months later he was declared dead because he couldn't even be found by Interpol. Two years go by and he appears in a picture on Facebook, as German teacher in a school in Kazachstan. Apparently only his sister was in on the fact that he just wanted to start a new life. Hope he's doing well and wish to see him again some day!
In & Out
I had a friend in high school, he was an extremely talented artist, singer, comedian, and actor who could have built a successful career out of his talent. But he turned his back on that and decided to just slack off and smoke pot for a few years. Then one day he disappeared. Ended up some years later in a Central Asian country. He disappeared again. Then a few years later he resurfaced back in the US. Every few years he would pop back into the lives of our old circle of friends, and vanish. Then last summer he died of Covid, still relatively young.
The Butterfly...
There was a girl with a speech impediment when I was in 1st grade. I thought she was cute and would love to hang out with her on the swing sets. Nobody talked to her because they were either shy or felt she was mentally disabled.
Our class did a butterfly project where we were all given a caterpillar to raise. They came in these little plastic containers and hers ended up dying. I switched mine with here without her noticing and told the teacher mine died instead.
The teacher got me to partner with somebody else and I was okay with sharing. The girl was really happy to see the caterpillar become a monarch and released that Spring.
I never told her what happened to the caterpillar and she eventually moved never to be found again. I tried to search her on social media but no luck.
Weird how that still crosses my mind now and then. This was 2001 for me.
Casanova...
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I got married very young. My wife and I were friends with another young couple.
They broke up right after their first kid and then the husband went out and got two other women pregnant. 19 years old, divorced and 3 kids with 3 different women. I'm 41 now. We rarely fight but when my wife and I have a fight I think about him.
Ben is Gone
Benny. He was my best friend for a long time. We were closer that I was to my real brother. Then he and my brother's girlfriend fooled around and messed everything up. We parted ways, I got clean and went to school. He stayed in it and lived the life I always thought I wanted.
Now, his family never mentions him on social media and I don't know where he is. I hope he's OK. Maybe I shouldn't, but I do.
What is the biggest takeaway from this read? You never know the impact you leave on another person. A moment is a moment, it's intimate, and the connection is real. Embrace the connection while you have it. Time is fleeting and that makes it our enemy. Enjoy each person you connect with, remember, every goodbye may be forever.
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For many childhood memories are overrun by living nightmares.
Yes, children are resilient, but that doesn't mean that the things we see as babes don't follow us forever.
The horrors of the world are no stranger to the young.
Redditor -2sweetcaramel- wanted to see who was willing to share about the worst things we've seen as kids, so they asked:
"What’s the creepiest thing you saw as a kid?"
Serious Danger
"Me and my best friend would explore the drainage tunnels under the Vegas area where we grew up. These were miles long and it was always really cool down there so it was a good way to escape the heat of our scorching hot summers. We went into this one that goes under the Fiesta casino and found a camp with a bunch of homeless people."
"Mind you we are like 11 years old lol. And we just kept going like it was nothing. It wasn’t scary then but when I look back at it we could have been in some serious danger. Our parents had no idea we did this or where we were and we had no cellphones. We could have been kidnapped and never have been found."
oofboof2020
Waiting for Food
"I was at a portillos once when I was 12 and I was waiting with my little brother at a booth while my parents got our food. This guy was standing with his tray kind of watching me then after a couple of minutes he started to walk over really fast not breaking eye contact with me."
"He was 2 feet from the table and my dad came out of nowhere and scared the s**t out of him. He looked so surprised and just said he wanted to see if I’d get scared or not. He left his tray full of food near the door and left. My folks reported him but we never went to that location again since we found a better one closer to home."
nowhereboy1964
Captain Hobo to the Rescue
"When I was a pretty young teen, my friends and I were horsing around in San Francisco and started hanging out to smoke with some homeless guys. Another homeless dude came up and began aggressively trying to shake us down for anything (money, smokes, a ride, drugs- all of it) and wouldn’t take no for an answer."
"We got in over our heads and could tell this guy was now riling the other 2 guys up and they were acting like they wanted to jump us. Some grandfather-looking old homeless man appeared out of nowhere and yelled at us to get the f**k out of here- nice kids like us don’t belong down here at this hour!!"
"Captain Hobo saved our lives that night. My parents sincerely thought we were at a mall all day lol."
FartAttack911
Survival
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"I was 7 and survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. Witnessed the wave rise way above the already massive palm trees (approx. 40ft?) and my family and I watched/heard the wave crash into the ground from a rooftop."
faithfulpoo
These Tsunami stories are just tragic.
On the Sand
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"We were a group of kids who went to swim in a local lake. And there was a dead body on the beach with their hands raised and their legs bent unnaturally that local police just took out of the same lake. I've never put my foot in these waters again."
oyloff
Be Clever
"I was walking to school and I was about 5 or 6 years old and some guy pulled up beside me in his car and asked if I would get in. He also offered me sweets to do so. I said no. The creepy bit was when he calmly said ‘clever boy’ to me, then drove off. I’ve never even told my parents or anyone else about this as it would most likely freak them out."
OstneyPiz
Bad Jokes
"Dad's side of the family pranked me by burying a fake body on our back property and had me dig it up to find valuables. Was only allowed to use a lantern for light. They stuffed old clothes with chicken bones. Sheetrock mud where the head was... Random fake jewelry as the treasures... I was like maybe 10 or 11.. I remember digging up the boot first and started gagging because it became real at that point."
Alegan239
YOU
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"Woke up to find my little brother staring at me in the dark, asking, Are you really you?"
PrettyLola2004
Siblings can really be a bunch of creepers.
No one should talk to others in the dark though.
Not all pet owners have the same relationship with their pets.
While anyone who decides to become a pet owner, or pet parent as some say, love their pets equally, some never ever let them leave their side.
Taking their pet with them to work, running errands, even on vacations.
Many pet parents even allow their pets to share their bed with them when going to sleep.
For others though, this is where a line is finally drawn.
Redditor Piggythelavasurfer was curious to hear whether pet owners allowed their pets to share their bed with them, as well as the reasons why they do/don't, leading them to ask:
"Do you let your pet sleep in your bed? Why/why not?"
The Tiny Issue Of Water...
"Absolutely not."
"I have fish."- Senior-Meal3649
Everyone Gets Lonely Eventually...
"I adopted an eleven year old cat the day before Halloween."
"She has mostly lived in my closet since I got her, and she hasn’t been too interested in coming out."
"Last night, she came out of my closet and jumped up on my bed, and crawled under my covers and curled up by my feet to sleep."
"I was so happy!"- YellowBeastJeep
The Comforting Reminder That You're Not Alone...
"I recently lost my Greyhound but I used to let him sleep on my bed with me."
"The company was nice and he was no trouble to have on my bed."- HoodedMenace3
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What Do You Mean Allow?
"I have no choice."
"She is a cat, cats do whatever they want."- Small_cat1412
"He lets me sleep in my bed."- Poorly-Drawn-Beagle
Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way
"I carry my old boy upstairs to bed every night."- worst_in_show
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Who Needs An Alarm Clock?
"I let my two cats sleep with me."
"They're so full of love and just want cuddles all the time."
"And so do I."
"We've all developed a lil routine."
"Get to bed, oldest sleeps on my feet to keep them warm, youngest lies in my arm while I lie on my side (she the little spoon), then when I snooze my alarm for work in the morning the youngest paws at my face and meeps loudly to wake me up."- GhostofaFlea_
Whose Bed Is It Anyway?
"Yes."
"They're also kind enough to let me squeeze into whatever space they've left for me."
"Although I do get a few dirty looks off them."- Therealkaylor
"I found this tiny kitten screaming her head off under a car."
"Would not come out."
"Got some food and some water in dishes."
"I stood by the tire so she couldn't see my feet."
"She got curious about the food and water and started gobbling it down."
"I thought she would bolt when I squatted down."
"She was too busy eating."
"I grabbed her by the nape of the neck and all four legs went straight out and she tried to scratch me to death."
"I got her in the door and tossed her toward the couch."
"She ricocheted off the couch as if she was a ping pong off a table and I lost sight of her."
"I put out food and water and a sandbox and did not see that kitten for three days."
"On the third day, I came home and she was on my bed pillow."
"I thought she would bolt when I came near, but she didn't."
"I wanted to sleep so I tried to scoot her little butt off my pillow."
"She would not go."
"I put my head down to sleep and that is the way it was from then on."
"She ran the roost."- Logical_Cherry_7588
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Sleeping Is A Prerequisite...
"No, he's a cat and he cannot keep still during the night."
"He walks across the headboard, opens the closet doors, jumps into the windows and rustles the blinds, etc."
"If he would sleep he could stay, but alas, he's a ramblin' man."- Spong_Durnflungle
Saying No Just Isn't An Option...
"'Let'."
"Lol."
"It's a cat's world and I'm happy to be on her good side."- milaren
Felines Only!
"The cat does, the dog doesn't and the horse certainly does not either."- Xcrowzz
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Is That My Hair On That Pillow?
"My dog is perfect."
"She comes up, cuddles til we start to fall asleep, then gets down to sleep on her bed so she doesn't get too hot."
"Jumps back up in the early morning for wake up cuddles."
"The hair everywhere is the only downside but she is so cozy, what can you do."- HoodieWinchester
It is easy to understand how some people are able to fall asleep more easily knowing their friend and protector is there, in bed, with them.
Though we can't blame others who don't want to run the risk of being scratched or bitten in the middle of the night either...