Remember when we could sit down next to a stranger and find something in common? We’d chat and play, and friendship would form smoothly. We didn’t have to be the same, we just had to be in the moment.

But now.

Now there is so much baggage. We assume the worst, and second-guess. Feelings are hurt. There are egos and lies.

We learn a lot about people as the calendar pages flip. Trajectories change, and we dance around our motives.

All that history means nothing to you. Maybe it means nothing to me. The details don’t even matter anymore.

More than once I’ve heard my own secrets pour from the lips of those I did not share them with. I’ve become gossip.

More than once I’ve needed support only to find that the fair weather had passed and no friend was to be found.

Friendship is difficult despite there being so few reasons for this to be. Why can’t we just find that common thread and turn it into a cozy shawl of friendship? It doesn’t have to be so hard. We can just be.

Life was easier in the sandbox.

This is why we build the walls. This is why we show no empathy. It’s a competition with no winners in the end.

Write the story however you want.

Pull it back and put your spin on it before you release it. You and I know the truth. You and I know what broke, and who broke it.

You can unfollow and unfriend but you cannot unlie.

Our sandbox days are over.