The Reunion

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

Last night went well. What happened last night, you ask? I’m not sharing the specifics. But I will tell you that It was an interesting experience. I met up with someone who I haven’t properly spoken to in 5+ years. And who I haven’t seen at all in at least 2. It went well. Lots of small talk about our lives. Catching up. Some reminiscing on past memories. During what feels like a life time ago, we were very close with each other. But all of that has since died off - I don’t feel like I know her anymore or that she really knows me.

It’s funny how life can work... you can share years with someone. Very specific memories. You may think that you know someone... but all it takes is a few years and distance for that someone to become a complete stranger. Okay, maybe not a complete stranger. A large part of our conversations were built on our memories- blast from the past names of people we’d throw out there, special moments from our childhood.... things that few others would understand. So we still share a unique connection on that level. But there was so much we did not and still do not know about each other.

A lot has happened in each of our lives in the past five years or so. Most of which we are unfamiliar with. And even if we had all the time in the world to catch up - and neither of us do as adults - there’s really no way to account for every little detail. But this is okay.... I don’t think we need to. We can keep things light and simple, and take one day at a time.

There were reasons we separated. Reasons I’d rather not get into. Reasons I thought would need to be addressed before we could ever reconvene. But we did not address them. We just jumped in, and met up like nothing had ever happened between us. And it was pleasant. Shallow, but pleasant. It’s a start. An effective start. We can get into the nitty, gritty drama, if we chose to, at a later moment...

My expectations are low. I don’t expect I’ll EVER be as close to her as I once was. (I don’t even know if we’ll even meet up again. If we don’t - that’s quite alright by me.) Once upon a time, she was my first friend. We did everything together. After all, we were both home schooled and raised by the same parents... Today, we’re different people. It’s almost as though we’re meeting for the first time. How everything will pan out is very much unknown. But I’m intrigued to find out.

Originally written 3/28/2019