Invisible Threads

Not every meaningful connection comes with photos, tags, or shared circles. Some friendships live in the in-between moments—in a message sent across time zones, a shared laugh in a muddy village, a conversation you didn’t know you’d needed until long after it ended.

Recently, I lost someone I shared one of those quiet, steady connections with. A friend I didn’t see often. Someone I didn’t talk to every day. But someone who, in their own way, anchored me to a version of myself I cherished. The kind of friend who reminds you who you are, even if only in small, scattered moments.

When I found out they had passed, it hit harder than I expected—not because we were constantly in touch, but because of the space they quietly held in my life. And because I realised there was no one else who quite knew that connection. It wasn’t shared. It wasn’t public. It was just ours.

And still, it mattered. Deeply.

In a world where connection is often measured in metrics—followers, tags, calendar invites—there’s something deeply human about the friendships that simply exist. The ones that aren’t about networking or professional gain. The ones that are about being seen. Fully, quietly, without effort.

Grief teaches us many things. This time, it reminded me that appreciation shouldn’t be postponed. That presence, even in small ways, is a gift. And that not all meaningful relationships need to be explained or understood by others to be real.

If you’re someone who has a connection like that—a friendship held together by trust, mutual joy, or just a shared moment in time—I hope you’ll honor it. Reach out. Be present. Say the thing. Make the plan.

Because these threads, invisible though they may seem, can carry us more than we know.