Being a stranger

Don't be a stranger"
-- a code word these days for hospitality.
    Translated, it means:
        Drop by anytime.
        Come visit more often.
        Stay in touch.
    A way perhaps of telling a stranger
-- a visitor,
an outsider,
a friend of the past who no longer resides in your present --
that you still count, that you still matter, that you're still welcome to visit.
    But perhaps to not stay forever.

    What does it mean to be a stranger?
    In a place where you came as a young person
    and stayed as you aged,
    as you made new friends who became old friends
    and eventually your family
    in the non-blood, communal sense?
    As you saw your closest friends leave,
    not for better places on earth
    but for that elusive space known as the afterlife,
    leaving you in the strange place that they once shared with you
    alone,
    with one less friendly face, one less person to share old stories,
    one less person who once was like you,
    a stranger in a place where you came as a young person,
    a place that grew old and familiar
    but never quite saw you as theirs.