Reconnection

I cannot tell you how much I am loving reconnecting with old friends. Reestablishing friendships with people that I was always friendly with, but perhaps not the closest of friends. And now we have the chance to get to know each other all over again as the people we are now. As professionals and parents and whatever else we may find ourselves being and doing. It’s just such a gift to be able to have these people with whom I have history and be able to extend that history beyond what parties we went to on Saturday nights or what we wore or what boy or girl screwed us over. It’s just so lovely to be able to vault these friendships into the current day without losing the history.

I am such a radically different person now than I was in high school and college (and other than the tire around my waist and spreading childbearing hips, it’s all for the better). And for a while when I was coming back into contact with old friends I worried that they would see the me I am now and wish for the me I was then. But I’m finding that we’re almost entirely able to just take each other where we are now, for who we are now, while still remaining grounded in the history we’ve shared. There is just really something about having known someone for 15 years or more that provides a foundation that is so safe.

I love to watch these people be parents. I love to watch their kiddos who look so much like them test them and push them in new and different ways; I love to watch them laugh with their children and significant others. I love to talk about big world events now that we have all travelled and studied and expanded our world views. I love to see how our experiences and loves and sorrows and passions have shaped us.

I just have such deep gratitude for the chance to renew friendships with people I thought I’d never see again. To be given the opportunity to relish in shared history as we watch our children create their own.