Promises

Promises are facinating, magical things.  Some people dole them out like candy on Halloween and think nothing of taking them back.  Others, like me, tend to hoard them.  Not because we don't want to give them, but because we know their true worth, the value of a real promise is incalculable.  For someone that believes in promises, it is hurtful to not keep them. 

I broke two promises last week.

The first promise was one that I made 16 years ago.  It hurt a lot of people when I broke that promise and I am enternally sorry for that, and I hope that someday they will see it as I did, a promise that was being kept at a terrible cost.

The seond promise I made less than a year ago.  It hurt to break it... god did it hurt.  I hope someday it will be understood that the intent behind the promise was made whole-heartedly, the most perfect promise I could give, but in keeping it, I chained myself to a life that could never be  mine. In keeping that promise, I only hurt myself.

Promises, like space, and time, are strange.