We are many, we are one.

We are each at the center of our own world, whether we admit it or not.

We are the nucleus, the sun. We are the heart, the soul.

We are not the sole composition, just the center. It truly can be no other way. What makes our lives work is the things that surround the center, the people in our lives. Our parents, children, spouses, friends. Our aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, in-laws, neighbors. Our co-workers. Our employers, employees, service providers. 

The relatives, the friends, the enemies.

I am Ellen. The person who shares most of my world is my husband, Roger. We met through Yahoo personals in the late Spring of 2001. He asked me to marry him in October of the same year.We dated for over a year before we were married. I would have lived with him, truth be told. I had been married from October of 1986 until September of 2001, 15 years. That was all I wanted of marriage.

Roger insisted we marry, because he did not want "people talking about me". How could I refuse in the face of such chivalry and honor? July 25 will be our tenth anniversary.

I see the people in my life as petals on a flower, like a lotus blossom. Some are closer, some further removed. Some have drifted off from a lack of care, some have left this corporeal plane. Some were never really connected, just gave the appearance of being that way.

I would not be who and what I am today without every single solitary one of them.

The contributions and impacts we have on each other are so minute and monumental, a contradiction of life that I find fascinating.

Relative. Relatives. Relation. Relations. Relationships.

The impact our presence has on the lives of one another, like the silk of a spider, almost invisible but of amazing strength. Terrifying influence.

My words, actions, ideas matter because of each of you, and your words, actions, ideas have immeasurable impact in my life.

We are many, we are one.