Loosing Teeth

“…you know what it feels like when all your teeth are falling out really slowly and you don’t realize and then you notice that, well, they’re really far apart. And then one day… you don’t have any teeth anymore.” — Carol, Where the Wild Things Are

I recently re-watched the Spike Jonze film Where the Wild Things Are based off the Maurice Sendak book.  I picked up on things I missed, forgot, or didn’t touch me the first time. One of these moments is the quote from Carol above.

Relationships are something I’ve been thinking about quite a bit lately. It has become apparent that oftentimes people who I was once good friends with slowly drift out of my life. This doesn’t make then (or me) bad people, it just means our lives are going in separate directions. The analogy of teeth falling out is dead on. One by one situations, distance, schooling, work or many other things get in the way. These things can be thought of as loosing a tooth until one day you realize all your teeth are gone, or to follow the analogy, a relationship has been lost.

So what can be done to prevent this? I don’t know. For me it has come down to picking the relationships which I wish to maintain (and in which I believe are mutually maintained) and not looking back. Part of growing up has been learning that some people will come and go from life. Some I’m happy to see leave, others I miss, some stick around though anything, yet others come and go as life allows. I am thankful for all the people who have been in my life and the things I’ve learned from each of them. I look forward to both new and old friendships thought the rest of my life.

What about you? What’s your advice or thoughts on relationships, Where the Wild Things Are, life in general? Let me know in the comments.

2 Comments

  1. Becky Becky
    at

    I’ve thought about the same thing a few times. I have to say I’m thankful for your friendship and I hope that we don’t let so many teeth fall out that we’re no longer friends.

  2. fifalicious fifalicious
    at

    I once heard a quote from Tyler Perry about relastionships and I agree with him 100%. He said that friendships are like trees.. some people that come into your life are like the leaves. They come and go.. that’s who they are. Some are like branches. He warns you to be careful of them because they will fool you into believing that they are strong, but are not. The most rare of friends are the root friends. “But if you find 2 or 3 people in your life that’s like the roots at the bottom of that tree you are blessed. Those are the kind of people that aren’t going nowhere. They aren’t worried about being seen, nobody has to know that they know you, they don’t have to know what they’re doing for you but if those roots weren’t there, that tree couldn’t live.”

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