BEAUJOULAIS AND BORDEAUX

An interesting shift has taken place lately. I have written a lot about trying to whittle down my list of friends to only those people I actually like (or who like me back) and about making new friends as an adult. However, in the last day or so, I have randomly heard from old friends with whom I have lost touch, and in some cases gone the extra step of rekindling those friendships.

It all started a few months ago when I received an anonymous post on this blog. I discovered the poster was none other than my friend Tina, from high school. We started emailing and I love being back in touch with her. Even though we live 3,000 miles apart and had not spoken in more than 10 years, emailing with her felt as though no time had passed. Now only to convince her to come east for a long weekend….

Then, on Tuesday, I was at the gym and happened to wear my oldest and most favorite t-shirt. It was given to me on the day I learned of my admission to Loomis Chaffee for high school and is something like 17 years old. A woman in the locker room stopped me to tell me that she had also gone to Loomis and after a minute or two of conversation, we realized she had been friendly with my big cousin. I forgot to ask her what her name was. (Sorry Chris!)

Yesterday, Ryan (another high school friend and one that I have remained in sporadic contact with) emailed a group of people with this Jet Blue ad. The person pictured in the ad was Tina’s prom date and a class behind us at Loomis. Because all of our email addresses were listed in the cc field (as opposed to B’cc), I received an email from my high school boyfriend, Eric. Readers of this blog know that back in September, I wrote a post wondering what happened to the boys I dated in high school. It turns out Eric is alive and well and living in the DC-metro area. I wrote back to him and also added a few emails to some other folks on this list such as Rachel, Leigh and Martha. I really hope I hear back from all of them, although I am not sure I will.

This little turn of events was interesting enough to write about, but this morning really clinched it. I was walking down the subway platform, oblivious to everything around me when all of a sudden, I heard someone call my name. Now, I am generally the worst person at recognizing faces of people I have not seen in a while, but I immediately gave a little squeal of delight and called back, “Lisa!” I have seen Lisa once in the last eight or so years (reading this post it is amazing how time rushes by without my noticing). She moved to NY first and we lost touch gradually, but I had always missed her and thought about her, which is not something I often do with people. She is also a newlywed and had left politics to work for my favorite magazine. We live a mere block from each other and it turns out, I have met her dog, Monte, on the street while walking Tiki. (Not sure whether the person walking the dog was her husband or dog walker though). Immediately we are back in touch and making plans for the next week.

So, even if I never hear back from the Loomis Chaffee set and my friendship with Lisa fades back (although this time, for some unexplainable reason, I don’t think it will), the timing of hearing from everyone is fantastic. If Wingin’ it is correct in his comments on a previous post and “some friendships are like a good beaujoulais...drink it while it's young then throw away the bottle and savor the memories” then it is equally true that maybe some friendships are more like a Bordeaux….in the beginning they are nothing exciting but if you come back to it when you are both a little older, they can be amazing.