Some have completed undergrad, master’s work, doctorate programs. Some complete projects, big and small, even daily to-do lists. Races, chores, papers, getting ready for a night out, dinner, reading a book. We’ve all completed something…many things, in fact.
But what does it mean to complete a person?
You know, like that line from Jerry Maguire: You complete me.
What the hell does that mean?
I’ve always been pretty adamant about never saying that someone “completes” me. That assumes that I was somehow un-whole or broken, missing a piece, before that person came along. I’ve long preferred the term “complement” in a phrase such as the one above. People are, indeed, complementary to each other.
Humanity is its own perfect accessory, really.
I have friends that are like the best pair of shoes I’ve ever had…stable, supportive, and sexy.
Some are like the perfect handbag…holding things I need with pockets to hold little nuggets of advice when I ask.
There are those friends that are my best jackets…I feel warm and comfortable with them, like going outside and about my life would be silly without them.
I have necklace & earrning friends…the ones that hug me when I need it and listen when I’m desperate.
My life would be far less sparkly, interesting, fashionable, or fun without any one of my friends.
So back to this “completion” issue.
I think I might be starting to think differently about that word as it relates to humanity.
I said to a friend the other day, “I can’t do life without him.” [Him obviously referring to my husband]
So I wonder…was I somehow more incomplete before I found him? Before he found me? Or maybe when we started dating, doing life together, got married, a new version of myself emerged. A version that, without my husband, would be incomplete and miserable. Humans, I believe, are meant to be in relationship, friendship or romantic, it doesn’t matter. I believe that it’s inherent in us to want to be with other people, to want to share our experiences and hurts, failures and triumphs.
I think that might answer my own question. Yes, I was incomplete before my husband. But I would also be incomplete without friends, family, humanity.