Fleeting People

I have been thinking a lot lately about all those people who are part of those fleeting moments. The people who enter your life for such a short time but yet they leave an impression for a long time after. Maybe they don't even leave an impression neccesarily, maybe they just talk to you for a minute, say something that makes you think, or just a normal meeting that makes you wonder who they are and where they come from. I have had those meetings a lot lately. There are a lot of people who I have seen or met that I wonder about. That homeless guy from under the bridge, whos name I still sometimes see mentioned in the newspaper. The person in front of me in line at the grocery store that I had that conversation with when the cashier left for a minute. That customer who was concerned for me when he thought that I was working the graveyard shift alone, and even more concerned when he found out that in a little while I would be. The customer that comes in a few times every day that I have really come to enjoy seeing. The lady who always looks so sad. The girl that is always alone, but seems to be happy in that world of hers. The guy who one day talked for over 10 minutes about his Toronto Maple Leaf memorbilia. The strange old men who (possibly) unknowningly make really awkward comments and always call me by name. The people that you see every day, have conversations with about things like the weather but are never able to go deeper with than that. These are all people that stick out in my mind, people I may not forget for a long time, but I don't even know most of their names. Some of them, if I saw them out on the street, I probably wouldn't even remember who they were. Nonetheless, I think I will always wonder who they are, where they came from and where they are going. Maybe our paths will cross again, maybe I will continue seeing them from time to time, maybe I will make an impression on them like they do to me. Or maybe in the end, none of it matters.