Old Friends (123)

“Make new friends, but keep the old,

One is silver, and the other’s gold.”  1925 Girl Scout Song Book

I’ve recently been reconnecting with old friends.  Some from 30 years ago and some from 10 years ago.  It’s a fun thing to reminisce but even more fun to find out what people are doing now, who they are, their plans, their dreams. 

Friday I met with a former co-worker from the year 2000.  We were hired in with two other people and began our training in New York City at the same time, the first week of January.  It was a tremendous time of learning for each of us and maybe, especially, me.  I had never been to New York and I was like a typical gawking site seer in the big city.  It was fascinating and so perfect.  The weather was strangely mild for January, people were surprisingly very kind and helpful and interesting.  I understood the work I was to do and got to know the other new hires pretty well.  In fact, one of them shared the germs with me from her children that became the worst flu I have had in my life.  I barely made it back home on a late Friday evening flight and spent the next three days in bed.  Then I had to get back on a plane and fly to Dayton or someplace in Ohio and travel with a co-worker for the week.  During that time of my illness, I lost about 20 pounds.  Of course, they have been found since then.

Now, to get back on track. This former co-worker was a victim of a cut back at work, as I was, and about 25 of our co-workers. Some of us have stayed in touch but others have been ‘lost.’ I was happy to reconnect with this particular person and share some of what has happened over the past 12 years since we’ve seen each other. We talked about all kinds of things and I gave him the nickel tour of St Louis in a pretty much monsoonal rain. It was one of the nicest afternoons I have spent in years other than time spent with my husband. We will certainly stay in touch from now on and I think of the 1968 Simon and Garfunkel song Friends/Bookends:

“Time it was, and what a time it was, its . . . a time of innocence, A time of confidences”
“Can you imagine us years from today, Sharing a park bench quietly?”

And I have been meeting with old friends from college and high school too. Funny that as we grow older, we look back and like to remember people we used to know or would like to know again. Some of my old friends have surprised me with different lifestyles or more children than I thought they would have. Some never married. Some have married many times. Some have leaned far left and some, far right. Some have become deeply religious and some have become agnostics or atheists. I truly appreciate all of them and enjoy getting reacquainted.

To old friends and new, I offer this additional verse from the Silver and Gold song:

“You have one hand,
I have the other,
Put them together,
We have each other.”