Old friends

I’m currently in my home town, visiting my family.  About a week ago I went to a sitting mediation with a good friend.  Before the meditation, everyone in the circle introduced themselves by first names.  I wasn’t really paying a lot of attention to the rest of the people in the circle, but when a woman across the circle from me said her name, I was sure that I knew her from high school.  When she realized who I was she said “I heard you were in New England” (huh?? how did you know that?) and it turns out she had worked for the local paper,  and spoke to my Dad when he called to place a classified ad.  I remember my Dad mentioning that to me, but he hadn’t remembered the person’s name he’d spoken with.

She’s one of a very small number of people from high school who I have wondered about over the years (high school, while not as bad as junior high, was pretty miserable!).  Two or three times I’ve had dreams about meeting her again, so it felts particularly weird / surreal to actually run into her in real life.   We met up for tea a few days later and talked for a couple of hours, and we have quite a bit in common in terms of interests and life views.  It will be nice to have another friend to spend time with / get to know again

Then a couple of nights ago I received an email from a friend from when I was a young adult, doing a lot of seasonal environmental work.  He was on of my best buds at one of those jobs,  one of the folks who I would go off on adventures with during our days off, someone who I miss having in my life.  Sadly, we’ve gotten out of touch in the past years (although his wife, who I’ve only met once,  is a FB friend!).  I had sent him a couple of emails at the beginning and middle of last year, and had not heard back from him.  It turns out my emails got lost in an email account he doesn’t use much, and he sent me a better email address.  I’m pretty psyched to have heard from him!

I’m feeling appreciative of both of these re-connections.