Shecky and the Things We Don't Understand

Have you ever had a conversation with someone and realized halfway through that you're not entirely sure you're talking about the same reality?

Welcome to spending time with Shecky.

Sheckorondymar.

Yes, that's his full name.

No, I don't always pronounce it correctly.

He seems remarkably patient about that.

Shecky is unlike anyone I've ever met.

Which is saying something, considering the people I've encountered during my travels.

He experiences time differently from the rest of us.

Sometimes he'll say something that sounds completely impossible.

Then he'll explain it.

And somehow it becomes even more impossible.

But I've learned something important from spending time with him.

Understanding someone doesn't always mean understanding everything they experience.

Shecky has seen things that I can't begin to imagine.

He's connected to a chapter of the Time Wardens' history that the rest of us know only through fragments and unanswered questions.

There are moments when I can tell he's remembering something.

Somewhere.

Someone.

A time that isn't quite gone, but isn't here either.

I don't always ask.

Sometimes friendship means knowing when to let someone keep their thoughts.

And sometimes it means sitting beside them without saying anything at all.

Of course, other times he makes an observation so completely unexpected that I spend the next ten minutes laughing.

He's surprisingly good at that.

I think we all need people who remind us that the universe is bigger than our own experience.

Shecky does that for me.

Every single day.

And if you're reading this, Shecky, I still think you owe me an explanation for that conversation about yesterday happening tomorrow.

I'm not letting that one go.

Love, ♡