I had lunch with an old friend today. I mean, she isn’t old, but we grew up together and now we’re both married with kids, so I guess we’re both kind of old compared to our memories together. We were best friends, like sisters, all through our formative years.
It has been 10+ years since we last bumped into each other for a brief conversation in a restaurant lobby, but 15+ years since we actually spent any real time together.
More than a year ago now, I received a random Facebook message from her, telling me she was pregnant with her son, and asking to reconnect. Of all the people she could have reached out to for pregnancy and baby advice, her heart and brain told her to contact me. (Obviously, because I am such a stellar boy mom). I was flattered and so happy to get back to our friendship.
We’ve spent the last year cross-country messaging tidbits here and there, and today I finally got to wrap my arms around her neck for a hug, and meet her sweet baby (who is probably alive because of all my expert advice). I needed this lunch. July has been a hard month for me – lots of unexpected and out-of-my-control changes and that bitch Mercury has been in retrograde or some shit which has made everyone and everything crazy!
This lunch brought me back to my roots. We laughed about how some of the goofy kids from elementary school grew into seriously good looking people. We filled each other in about all that has happened the last 15 years with moving and careers and building our lives. We reconnected through our past, a time when life didn’t seem so hard, and new-connected (shut up, that’s a thing) with adult things that we do now – work, marriage, kids, illness, life, death. It was so incredibly nice to be around someone who remembered who I once was, and it helped me to remember that a little, too. I’m so grateful that some friendships come back around, seemingly a lifetime after they began, and you just know they are going to stick again. I feel at peace with things today and hopeful for what’s to come. So thanks, friend, for helping me get a little piece of myself back today so that I may carry that with me going forward. #bffsforever #oldfriendsnewfriendsagain
