Jan
Lost in Deep Space
Every so often I am reminded of Paul. He was a young man who had turned his life around. Paul was bright and energetic. He took up Paganism. It opened many doors to him. In fact, he met the woman who became his wife because they were studying the same form of Wicca.
I had met Paul over 20 years ago. He was one of the people whom I had helped. He transformed from a troubled young fellow to a man with a purpose. A while later, Paul met up with some Wiccan folks and found himself a way of life. He took to Wicca the way I had taken to Heathenism some years previously.
Friends used to joke that Paul was my long-lost teenage son.
Paul and his wife settled on the other coast. They had two children. We were in contact less and less. One night, about 12 years ago, he made a very bizarre telephone call. Perhaps I should have followed up, but that was the last I heard from Paul. His wife continued to send Yule cards the next couple years. In the last one, it was evident she had changed the children’s surnames to her maiden name. The phone number no longer worked, and letters to her went unanswered.
It has been 12 years. I have not heard a thing from Paul. There was a hint that he might have gone to Pennsylvania, but that is more speculation than fact.
There are many who have lost a friend or relative into the mists of unknowingness. They go their way. Many people hold out a little hope that their missing friends and relatives might return. It is hard not to think the worst, even if we would like to see them have the best.
They are like a spaceship lost amid the distant galaxies. It may have crashed, it may have been destroyed, or it may be flitting between star systems trying to find its way home. Despite the likelihood that it is gone after all these years, we are like the station that continues to send a beacon for the lost spaceship. We leave a light on for them, so to speak, even if they have not come home all those long years.
Maybe we will hear from Paul one day. Maybe we will not. Nevertheless, my wife and I still hope that he is alive and well. For those of you who have a missing friend or relative, we understand. Hope is never lost, though it may fade with time. Until that time comes, we mentally leave a light on in case they return.
