It took me a few years to recognize the long runner in my life, always there for me, by my side. In my early years, it was almost of no interrest, things got more interesting in highschool, we fought, declared war, still…we always went to sleep together, hoping for better days to come.

I have to admit I even hated it at one point, couldn’t understand it and wasn’t even thinking about listening to it. I could see, everywhere around me, that my long runner was not up to the standard expectations, I was dissappointed and frustrated because of this. Plus, I couldn’t even imagine I could do anything to change it, although I was beating the holy tomatoes out of it. I gave it all kinds of treatments, to control it, I pushed it for years, didn’t care about it, just asked and demanded more and more from it.

No matter what I did, it stuck silently by my side, my only real support and the only one I could count on, even in my dreams. We have been together through the weirdest experiences! It saved me from death several times, woke me up from my sleep when my heart almost stopped, helped me run out the chasers and jump walls, if needed. Whenever my mind wondered off, it took care of everything, making sure we remain safe. It gave me clues, whispered to me, talked to me, yelled at me, but eventually had me fall asleep when it saw my mind was out of control or under too much stress. Whenever my mind lost it, it was there, just standing, as a pole, as the safest place on earth for my soul. It never treated me disrespectfully and it always fullfilled its duties. It never failed me, never gave up.

It took care of my child and myself, fed my child when nothing and nobody else could, carried on for years with almost no resources and no respect shown, but it always made it. It showed me how to calm down, how to embrace it and let myself go. It gave me signs and hints about situations, people and places, making me avoid dangerous stuff, litteraly pushing me forward when I was not sure of myself and making me step up.

In the last years I started to recognize it as mine, as my best friend, my helper, my only belonging on this world. It is the one that makes this existence and all its experiences, possible. I had to first learn how to listen to it, then how to trust it and in the end, how to treat it. I made it my long-runner and I started appreciating it, even if I haven’t always been happy with its decisions. I took a break when it old me so, I went out for a walk and some exercise when it felt down, I followed it and it improved my life. I promisse to give it my well deserved respect for the rest of my days, and I am counting on it to keep doing its job. And, when it gets old, we get to laugh in the mirror and tell the story of our life through all the scars that wrote on it.

I will always be grateful to my safe place, my carrier, my carrer, my long runner!