Once upon a time in a different state, some would call it the state of confusion, when I was young and single and carefree, I had a friend who lived in an apartment 2 doors down from my apartment. We were both librarians, school librarians. We saw each other at school events. Sometimes we planned and did things together, but more often we talked for hours on the phone.
Sometimes I feel like I know everything about her. Through those years we were young and carefree we shared everything. But, then we both got married and moved away. I moved far. My life became no longer carefree and I am no longer young. She stayed married and I divorced. We each had but one child and we each knew the pain of infertility and of losing a child. Our lives intersected a few times over the years. We always sent Christmas cards.
But, we never became strangers. Whenever we got together, we talked. It is amazing how lives that had been lived so separately can just start right back in the place. I know her favorite children's book and I remember her friends and the mutual friends we had back in time and space. We can talk.
Recently she and her husband both came down with COVID. I thought perhaps I would lose her, this friend of mine. In a comment on social media, I decided to contact her and set up a phone conversation. So, we talked and we made an appointment to talk again and again.
Life led me on a journey. I went out and saw and did things, things I never imagined in my callow youth. But, it is funny to me how, despite traveling so far and experiencing so much, the comfort of talking with an old friend is such a joy. I have to count my renewed friendship as one of the unexpected benefits of this pandemic.
No comments:
Post a Comment