Old friends are the best.
About a week and a half ago, I got an email out of the blue from my friend Chris. We were really close friends at the end of high school and into college, even though we ended up at colleges far away from each other. I hadn't seen him for something like five or six years.
The subject of the email was "Would you like to have lunch on the 17th?" He lives in DC, so I wasn't sure what he meant. The rest of the email said, "I'm serious. I have a voucher for Southwest that expires soon, and Indianapolis is the cheapest place to fly from BWI. I'd have to leave and come back the same day, but I can get a flight that arrives at 10:45 and leaves at 5:15."
I immediately replied, "Yes! Absolutely."
And then I started planning how to make it work. I really wanted some time to catch up with him without three kids interrupting, so I was able to line up childcare from 9-1, and then Bob watched them from 1-2. This gave me time to drive to the airport, bring him to our town, and take him to lunch. I gave him a really quick tour of our old neighborhood, and then brought him to our house where he got to see Bob and meet the kids. We spent maybe a half hour here before packing up the kids and heading back to the airport.
It was such a treat to see him. You know how some friends, you can just pick up where you left off years ago, and it's as if there was no gap? That's how it was for me. And we had a lot of catching up to do.
His dad died three weeks ago, and I was really sad to not be able to fly down to Florida for the funeral. I really liked his dad.
And it's crazy that I have THREE CHILDREN he'd never met. I think the only disappointing thing was that he didn't get to meet our cats, and he's a cat-lover. Other than that, the day was perfect.
Sometimes I get caught up in the daily tasks, and my life becomes drudgery. I forget to schedule things to look forward to, and that makes for a monotonous life.
Today? Today was like balm for my soul. I love that he thought to propose this plan. I love that we made it work. That it was fun, not too hurried, not awkward. I love friendships that bypass long distances, time apart, and totally different lives and just pick up in the now, with common ground we shared ten-plus years ago and the fun of being together again.
Dear Chris, thank you for coming to visit. And I hope we take a trip to DC sometime soon.
