Parallels

I just finished watching an episode of Grey's Anatomy. As with so many television series, there is a theme that runs throughout the hour. As each individual deals with their own personal situation, there are many more characters that are living something parallel. There are words beyond the script that are communicated because each person is internalizing what it happening to another. They get it. They truly get it, because they can relate.

It all seems kind of hokey on TV. The hour is wrapped up nice and tidy with a start, a middle, an end and a moral wrapped up as each character has walked a similar path yet the results are different.

Then I looked at real life. The parallel theme isn't so hokey after all.

It seems that no matter what my friends or family go through, I take in the information and process it in a way that has me searching for parallels. I can't know what it is like to walk in another person's shoes, but I do my best to find something that I can relate to.

Every time I talk to one of my friends, it never matters who has 'the story' that is playing through their days. We each hear the other, turn it around in our minds and come out with the knowledge the other person gets it. It seems most of our conversations end with the feeling that it doesn't matter what one of us is going through ... the other person is/has gone through something similar and can relate. It tightens the bond of our friendship. The parallels. The understanding. The relating.

I don't do well with small talk. I find it exhausting to talk about things that don't matter for an entire conversation. I start to yawn, my thoughts drift, I feel an inner struggle going on as I crave to find something relate-able to focus on. The knee shaking conversations - where two people find a kindred thought and run with it -are what I remember. The parallels. Two minds tossing out thoughts, feelings and words ... the mutual feeling of being understood.

Yes, the parallels that are so often brought to light in a half hour comedy or an hour of drama on TV aren't as far fetched as they seem at first glance.

Life is so much richer when you find a kindred spirit. Someone who finds the parallels in their lives that make you feel understood.

Parallel lives are all around us. We just have to look for them.