"I knew even then that she was right. An en is a karmic bond lasting a lifetime. Nowadays many people seem to believe their lives are entirely a matter of choice; but in my day we viewed ourselves as pieces of clay that forever show the fingerprints of everyone who has touched them. Nobu's touch had made a deeper impression on me than most. No one could tell me whether he would be my ultimate destiny, but I had always sensed the en between us. Somewhere in the landscape of my life Nobu would always be present." Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha.

It's an interesting thing to consider, that those to whom we are inevitably drawn may only be meant to make impressions upon us and not really share in our lives at all. There are so many people in my past that I wish I could talk to again, sit down with over coffee or a meal, bowling or a play or dancing. And there are many that I never want to see again. The indelible marks upon me are not random fingerprints of men and women, but the tools used by the Potter to bring out the form in me the clay. To believe that you have the power to change the world is to believe that others have the power to change you. To know that others are clay which can be shaped by your hands is to know that to be open to change is to put your trust in others. It's time for sleep, and even there, I am shaped further, slowly but surely.