My friends and I have been talking a lot about immortality recently
of going on forever, endless, eternal
until one day all of existence ends, and then continuing still.

I can't say I'd like it very much.

At its essence, forever is a rejection of fluidity;
eternity a rejection of alteration;
immortality a rejection of the one fate that we cannot change: that one day, we will return to dust.

Life is about change, seeing how the leaves grow and fade with the seasons, the lakes freeze and thaw, lives intertwine and drift apart with ferocity or without a sound. The fact of their changing natures does not make them any less beautiful - if anything, any moment becomes even more so. Our lives are limited, and that makes us treasure what we have, knowing that we will not always have it.

We change, too. As individuals and in connection to others, we develop over time, becoming new versions of ourselves with every passing day. I am not the same man I was five years ago, or a year, or a month or a week or a day; I do not retread all the same footsteps I did as a younger person. I am now more myself than someone else, I think, and that is a change that has long been awaited. I am more confident, more comfortable - I choose to love change, rather than following blindly.

You've changed, too, I'm sure, although it might be difficult to notice at a cursory glance. Perhaps you've become even more diligent and thorough, more eloquent, more steadfast - or maybe you've picked up some new traits, too, a balancing act between someone you were and someone you have yet to become.

All things will change, eventually. Remember to stop and enjoy the breeze while it's here.