Blasts from the Past

I've always found that my friendships go in waves ... not of all of them, but there's those people that you somehow lost touch with at some point - maybe after high school/college, maybe when you changed jobs or moved - and then you run into them years later and pick up right where you left off. I've had two such experiences lately.

There's this one girl I went to school with years ago, from elementary through high school, who I reconnected with over the summer. I always thought she was a lot of fun, but we weren't really close growing up. I was such a goody goody, and she was (and, really, still is) a bit of a bad ass. But this summer, we added each other on facebook and it's been great. We decided to meet up for an early dinner a few months ago, and ended up sitting around for a few hours, smoking and chatting, just having one of those conversations that's half in the past, half in the present ... such a great night. And from there, we've just started hanging out, double-dating with our guys, going shopping, chain-smoking ... It's really nice when you reconnect with someone you had completely lost track of, only to discover that your differences now complement each other, if that makes any sense to anyone out there but me. Anyway, it's pretty cool. She just moved into my neighbourhood, so we get to see each other pretty frequently, and I think this time we'll stick it out for the long run.

My second experience is a little odd. I've known this girl for years, but we were never really friends. We had a few mutual friends, we'd see each other once in a while at a party or something, and I always thought she was really cool. But we just weren't friends. I ran into her at a play last month, and we had a nice little chat, and did that whole "Oh let's get together sometime" spiel, but we meant it. I really wanted to get to know her and become her friend (yeah, I know, I sound like an eight year old now). Anyway, we met up for dinner tonight, and it was great! We sat around for about an hour after the bill was paid, just chatting and laughing and getting to know each other better.

See, I love that. I think my favourite thing to do is just sit around with a couple of people, drink coffee, chain smoke, and shoot the shit. It's even better than shopping. I guess I'm just feeling lucky for the great people I have in my life - old, new, and rediscovered. I used to be one of those people who had a lot of acquaintances, but never felt very close to anyone. I grew out of that a couple of years after high school, and I'm at the point where I can count my close friends on my fingers. But I can count on those people. Like, if something ever happened and I needed someone there for me, I'd have that. It's such a nice feeling. I think it's important to not take anything for granted, and I hope that I never, ever take my wonderful friends and family for granted ... okay, let me clarify: I'll still bitch about them when they deserve it (especially my family), but I'm really lucky to have some very cool people in my life.