Some meetings stay with you longer than expected.

This morning, I met two people I hadn’t seen in years.
One after decades. The other after a long pause in a shared journey. And what stayed with me wasn’t the time that had passed.. but how little it seemed to matter.

A train, a quiet platform, that in-between moment very early before the rushhour, where the day hasn’t quite started yet. I was on my way to reconnect with two people who had once been colleagues and who, over time, had quietly become something more. Friends.

The first meeting was with Tanzina. We first met years ago in Budapest, during my time at Givaudan. I remember even then there was something immediate, not something you analyse, just something you recognise. Different backgrounds, different stories and yet a shared understanding, simply on a human level.

As we sat together enjoying a coffee, just across from her office in Basel, the conversation didn’t feel like starting again. It felt more like picking something up and continuing seamlessly from where we had left it years ago. Very quickly, we found ourselves sharing what has shaped us since the choices we’ve made, the moments where things were not clear and how often it comes down to trusting something deeper than logic. Listening to intuition. Making decisions without having all the answers. Knowing what is in our control… and what isn’t. It wasn’t a long conversation, but it felt complete.

The second meeting was with Ana. We hadn’t seen each other in over 20 years. The last time was in Asturias in Spain, when we were both working at DuPont. And yet, as I walked across the reception and saw her, there was no sense of distance. No real need to “catch up.” Just a natural embrace, familiar and warm. As if something had remained intact underneath it all.

And at the same time, everything had evolved. Because of course it had. Life had shaped us in different ways. Different paths, different experiences, different chapters. Somehow, all of that was present without needing to be explained.

At one point, sitting there in the company’s canteen, between these conversations, I looked up and noticed a large circular light hanging from the ceiling. That simple, bright circular shape felt like a quiet reminder that life rarely unfolds in a straight, logical sequence. It’s more layered, more fluid. Our sense of time shifts. Sitting there, it suddenly felt as if I had seen Ana and Tanzina just yesterday, even though years had passed.

Sometimes, connections don’t follow a timeline. They sit somewhere deeper and can be picked up again. Not by chance and not just by effort. But through something more subtle. A mix of attention, intuition, memory and that human capacity to recognise each other beyond the surface. Where conversations don’t really start from zero… they continue from a place that never fully disappeared. Some connections don’t disappear. They simply go quiet for a while as we navigate through our busy lives. And when they return, there’s a simplicity to it. You feel it.

In the afternoon on my train journey back home, while writing down my thoughts it occurred to me: How often does someone cross my mind… and I tell myself I’ll reach out later? Telling myself, I will do it when I have more time. When I find the right words… and then I don’t. Not because the connection isn’t there and I want to avoid the contact, but because I simply choose not to act on it. However, I have found that when someone comes to mind, there’s usually a reason. Not necessarily a logical one. But I have noticed more often than not, when I follow it and do just send a note, record and leave a short message without expecting an immediate reply – just leaving a small “ripple effect of care”: something changes. Not only in the relationship, but also in me.

So in conclusion, maybe it’s not about finding the right moment, but the one we’re already in when the thought appears. Because in the end, a good life is built on something very essential for all of us. Relationships. Not perfect ones. Not constant ones. But the ones we don’t let disappear completely.

So if someone comes to mind… Reach out.

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