On things getting better

I was standing, zombie-like and disengaged, at a party in my friend’s living room. Two guys were getting to know each other in the kitchen nearby. They were relating over having gone through hard times, and come out the other side. One said, “You never realize when you’re in it that things will get better, but they do. They always do.” It was like they were speaking to me, at me.

Earlier that summer, several institutions in my life as I knew it had crumbled. A person I loved deeply ended our relationship. A promising job didn’t pan out. My landlord ended my lease. The reasons to continue living abroad far from friends, family and my large professional network seemed few.

But there I was, gripping my cup of water (alcohol meant tears), eavesdropping on two men I barely knew, and taking advice from their light party banter.

That was the first moment that summer when light at the end of the tunnel started to seem like a possibility.

About 10 years prior, a person I met traveling said to me, “sometimes people act as messengers for what others need to hear in that moment.” Those two men were messengers that night. And they were right, life turned around.