Magic

Sometimes you meet people and they make everything feel magic. Those people who can immediately lock into your brain and understand. Maybe you sit around picking out constellations together. Maybe they make streetlights seem beautiful. Maybe they turn hours into adventures. Maybe they drive across two counties to look after you when your kidneys give up even though you can only communicate through squeaking and tears. Maybe they remember every stupid thing you have ever said to them when you yourself have long forgotten. Maybe they can count to ten.

Maybe they pop into your life for a few days per year and then vanish into the ether again, leaving your world rearranged and fluttering. Maybe they are next to you all the time, an endless source of magic for all your boring days. Maybe you’ve never met them, but you can feel them so keenly they’ve had a huge, life-shaping impact on you anyway, channeling their own magic into your words, your thoughts, your attempts.

The people you meet for an hour and know you want in your life forever. The people who inspire you just by turning up. The people you can’t possibly let go of even though you understand the lesser power of your own potential magic. They’re not always yours to keep. That’s just the way it goes sometimes.