tracing the elements

It has always troubled me how they just simply disappear. People. And not just the ones that die. It could be a breakup… and they simply fade into oblivion, without trace, like a death. Also, when one has lived in different countries and different cities within those countries, people who are once a part of daily life are eventually gone. There are so many goodbyes and promises to remain in touch, but people get married, they have children, or they simply meet other people and disappear. It seems that the ones who remain in touch are lost to death. The others simply disappear of their own free will. I remember once reading something that a professor had said in an interview… ‘people will curse me for this, but a breakup is not dissimilar to death.’ It feels that way but, deep down, we know one is final and the other always leaves an option… hope or hate… something. I know I will never share another message or conversation with my mother, something I still struggle to accept, and it is likely that I will never share another with some of the friends and exs of my past, but one never knows.