Who are you again?

There is a not-so-famous quote from [I think but cannot verify] C.S. Lewis that goes something like the man who gets on the train is not the same man who gets off the train, which describes how our journeys transform us. This is not so noticeable in our every day acquaintances, such is the transparent nature of incremental change, but it is noticeable in our infrequent acquaintances, including the closest of family and friends that, through circumstance, have become distant and infrequent. On several occasions, Ive been struck with the notion that the person I just spent time with is not that person anymore. Of course, they are still who they are, but, from a relative perspective, where I am the observer, they are no longer who they were, and I dont recognize them anymore. This can, of course, be a very sad realization for the attachments of the past, but also a happy one for the entanglements of the past, if the transformation opens up the possibility to reconnect without the baggage. Turning the observation inward, there is probably no more transparent transformation than the one that we undergo and observe, but it bears witnessing nonetheless, and, perhaps, the realization that I am not that person anymore can be liberating, especially if one has not yet mastered living in the present, or, alternatively, motivating, if one has lost a redeemable quality that they covet. In either case, recognizing when someone has transformed, or when you have transformed, to a degree sufficient to say that they or you are not the same person anymore is useful, in terms of engaging old people in new ways, and helping them understand who you are, beyond the framework of who you were. Who are you again?