I Wonder If I Left a Mark

I’ve been thinking about old connections lately.

The early ones— before I even knew who I was becoming.

I don’t remember how some of them started or why they ended.

But I wonder if I ever impacted someone in a way I couldn’t see at the time.

I’ve picked up so many little things from people I cared about—

a phrase here, a look, a way of holding silence.

And it hit me recently:

Maybe they picked up things from me, too.

Maybe they still say something the way I said it.

Or soften their tone when talking to someone gentle.

Or see themselves a little differently because of how I once looked at them.

Maybe they don’t remember the details.

But I wonder if something about me lingered.

I wonder if I was someone’s beginning.

Not their everything—

Just the part that made something else possible.