In Parallel

This blurry image above is a cruise ship on the Atlantic Ocean at night time. It’s a laughably terrible photo. But it has a nice thought attached.

I recently took a cruise myself, and when I snapped this image, I was on the top deck of my own ship. We were sailing overnight to our next port of entry, and as I looked toward the expanse of the ocean, not too far from us, there was another cruise ship traveling with us in parallel. Though the photo is humorously abysmal, I could see this ship very clearly.

I stood there for a while and watched it, wondering who might be on that ship. Though I couldn’t make out individual people, I knew that thousands of people were there, an international bunch, and some were in the pool, some were in their beds, some were eating dinner, and some were at shows and activities.

Then, I thought, “Oh, and there are probably a few standing on the top of the deck, watching my ship in the distance, thinking about the very same things about us.” I enjoyed knowing this was true, even though I couldn’t see the people in my same position.

I thought about how many times a day in every day life, we think about people we love, and they think about us. We rarely know exactly when and how this happens, but it’s certainly true. There are people in parallel with our own lives — from afar, or just living their own day nearby, thinking of us fondly, enjoying us, remembering us, wondering about us, hoping for us, cheering us on, and desiring goodness for us.

–Renee Roederer