The memories of my late teens and early twenties were kind of a mash up of crazy adventures and avoiding trouble.  It’s odd to look back on your life and see how much you’ve changed and far you’ve gotten.  Sometimes all it takes is a flash from the past to bring clarity into your journey.  Last night I met up with an old friend whom I hadn’t seen in about 15 years.  He lives 2000 kilometers away from me now, but our schedules allowed for an evening of some one-on-one time.

There was the usual pleasantries & greetings- talking about life and what we were up to.  Then, the conversation went to discussing our different paths in life since the last time we saw each other.  We tried to figure out why we stopped hanging out, but couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason. Was it school? Was it friends? Perhaps it was moving to another area? Maybe it was a combination of all of these things.  

We spoke about the hardships, the challenges, the choices, the successes and failures we each endured over the past few years.  No judgements being passed, no pissing matches, and above all, no bullshit.

We also spoke about old friends, trying to figure out what they were doing now.  Almost like gossip, but more just sharing the good things that were happening to those we once knew.  

The strange thing is, as we spoke, it felt like we were close friends who still spoke everyday.  (We are in constant contact through Facebook, but that’s no replacement for a face to face meet up.)  We laughed and joked like we did years ago.  At one point we said the same sentence at the same time- as if our brains reached into the backs of our minds and pulled from our memories our old personalities.  

It was real and it was fun.  I look forward to seeing him again, and hopefully it doesn’t take another fifteen years.