It comes back in flashes.
A sound.
A room.
A face.
A ridiculous detail that somehow carries an entire lifetime inside it.
A SPLASH.A TERRACE.A VIKING.WARM PLATES.PEZ.COOKIES.LAUGHTER AFTER MIDNIGHT.
And somehow
A moment becomes a friendship.
A friendship becomes a home.
A home becomes a refuge.
And before anyone notices, years have passed and the people inside the story have become part of the architecture of your life.
THE CIRCLE HOLDS.
Even when
People leave.
People return.
People change.
People somehow remain.
Distance does its thing.
Time gets arrogant.
Silence pretends to mean more than it does.
And then one day the thread pulls tight again, as if nothing important ever really went anywhere.
And now
Another room is being painted.
Another strange place is slowly becoming a home for stories that haven’t happened yet.
There is paint on our hands.
Music somewhere in the background.
Old madness has found a new address.
And the circle, being the circle, has decided to show up again.
Because today
It happens to be your birthday.
Which feels exactly like the sort of timing the universe enjoys.
We could have sent flowers.
Or a card.
Or one of those cheerful birthday messages involving cake, candles and suspicious levels of punctuation.
But after everything, that felt a little inadequate.
So instead
We wanted to remind you of something you already know.
Homes remember.
Terraces remember.
People remember.
The ridiculous little rituals remember.
The laughter remembers.
And the people who matter somehow keep finding their way back into the same circle.