Ceiling Epiphany

Every day, we wake up.
Every day, we live our lives.
Every day, we sleep.
Then we wake, do things, and sleep again…
But someday, you won't be able to sleep. One cold night, you'll be tossing and turning in bed, trying to figure out why you won’t be able to get to bed.
You’ll try sleep for maybe an hour or two; you'll drink a glass of milk, go to the toilet, and go back to bed.
You’ll try to sleep for another few minutes when you realise that you can't get to sleep tonight. You won't get to sleep tonight.
You'll stay awake, turn onto your left side, then your right side, then your left again. Then you look up to the ceiling. Then you roll over onto your front and you check the clock.

3:00

You go through your whole day in your head- why not? You’ve got 3 hours and you’re bored. Some people say that if you can't get to sleep, then you've got something on your mind- why not fix it?
Something he did. Something she said. Something you saw. Something you heard.

3:30

Your whole day in 30 minutes. Nothing traumatic or disturbing. Nothing wrong...
You go back further. Weeks. Months. After going back 7 years, you check the clock.

It's 4:00. 7 years has gone by in half an hour.
All you remember from seven years is a half hour's worth of memories.
Memories of old schools.
Memories of old friends.
Memories of old family.
All 7 years compacted down to one hour.
And you realise-
What happened to that diary that I used to keep?
What happened to those photos I took?
What happened to my best friend's phone number?
What happened to those feelings I used to have?
Will we speak to each other in 7 years?
Will we feel the same in 7 years?

Before you realise, it’s morning.

You get up
change
walk out the door.
catch the same bus.
Your friends do something funny. You laugh.
Just like every other day.
And you wonder...
Every day is different...
Every day will hold a new surprise…
Every day deserves to be remembered…
And yet, by the time we sleep, we will have forgotten most of that day.
And we won’t stare at the ceiling…
Will you remember that day one year from now?
Seven years from now?
When we fall apart...
When we've made separate lives that exclude each other...
When you’ve found a new life…

Will you remember me on that cold night, when you can't sleep, and staring up at that ceiling, seven years from now?