Today I find myself reflecting on a line from a poem Brian A. Chalker wrote . . .
“People come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.”
A dear friend of mine, Nick Mosley Jr., participated in all of the above. We met when he became a patient at a chiropractic office where I did spinal exams in 1992. We hit it off immediately and became friends, and I soon discovered he went to the same high school I attended, but we’d never met... When his care as a patient was no longer needed, we lost touch but ran into one another two years later when I needed his friendship most. We saw one another every day, and as I grew stronger and our lives changed direction, we didn’t see one another that much. Then ten years later, we ran into each other again at a library with my five-year-old son and stayed in contact until he died in July of 2022.
He supported me through one of my darkest seasons and was there for one of the worst reasons, which gave us a six-month-long memory we both cherished. When I started to follow my passion for photography and had my first piece shown at the Alameda County Fair, he was so excited for me, and every summer after that, he would ask if I had something showing. When I’d say yes. He’d promise me he’d go and see it.
Last year I didn’t submit anything. I submitted a poem honoring Nick this year, hoping it would get in. It was accepted for the show and won a Silver award!
I hope he is somewhere up there smiling down, knowing how much he meant to me and so many others.
Do you have a person in your life like Nick? Someone who has been there for a reason, a season, and a lifetime?

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