ruben angel

you were twelve and your best friend made you laugh until you couldn’t breathe. you guys put canned cheese on everything. you made music videos together and stayed up until your pre-teen brains forced you to sleep. you helped each other through the treacherous years of middle school. you deemed yourselves sisters and that title stands fourteen years later. 

you knew all along that you were creating a foundation of friendship for the rest of your lives. but you didn’t realize all that you and her would become. you weren’t aware of the journeys you would each to go on, taking you outside the city limits you knew so well. you didn’t know how, over time, you and her would change so much while staying exactly the same. you didn’t realize that one day, you would watch her become a mother. 

my mind likes to reflect whenever there is evidence of time passing and life changing. the brain is always trying to make connections in our experiences. and now, it feels like a trip through time to look at a beautiful, tiny baby and think about how the best friend i made a minute-long handshake with is the same woman who grew that baby with her body and brought him into the world. 

so, if you can’t tell, it makes me emotional. it also makes me have a newfound appreciation for anyone who’s ever told me they met me when i was a baby. i never knew what to to with that information since i couldn’t remember those encounters. as i see it now, they are proud of witnessing my mom and dad dive into parenthood. proud of being in their lives since ‘way back when…’ and of seeing who i’ve stemmed out to be. 

because babies remind us of how we all started. they remind us of all the stops we have made throughout our adventures. they show us that what lies ahead is a gift. they tug at the threads tying back to our youth and show us how time weaves each tapestry. 

so with all this remembering, here’s to ruben angel guzman. to the lives he’s already touched. to the adventures he will take. and here’s to those life-long friendships. becoming family and watching each other grow up and out into the chaotic world that is home. 

~ kj