I’m leaving one of my favorite cities today. Had two job offers here in Baltimore earlier this year, and pondered moving here a thousand times. But I’m lucky that I’ll just get to come up here when the mood strikes.
Last night, I had the wonderful opportunity to see someone who was very, very special to me 15 years ago. Well, special to me even today, but I think I was 21 years old when we last saw each other.
I was nuts at 21, I think. (Yes, less so than at 35, in case you’re wondering — this IS the functional version of me!)
I am kind of proud that I’ve turned out so well, and admittedly I am often sort of surprised that my dumbass behavior back then hasn’t turned (too many) people against me.
We were to meet at 8 p.m., which turned in to 9. I never admitted that I actually arrived at said destination around 7:30 (pictured). I was excited and nervous all at the same time — like, OK, what do you have to talk about after 15 years has gone by?
It was more like only 15 MINUTES had only gone by. There are friends you need to lose, friends you should never lose, and friends that you should thank your lucky stars that the world brings you together again.
We just laughed and laughed, you know? Talked about old times somewhat — about the things we remembered about each other. And none of it was us doing dumb stuff (although we did enough of that!). It was, oddly enough, things like going to church together back in the day. Spending Christmas together. Listening to music together because we were too broke to do anything else.
Age has been kind to us, we think. Life has been kind, and it’s kicked our asses. And we’re better versions of the people we were circa 1995.
We made a promise that it won’t be another 15 years that we run into each other. I mean, this event almost didn’t happen, as the door was open to reconnect and I wasn’t sure I should open it. I guess I thought I’d be the only one who was stupid-excited about this reunion. Silly girl. 😉
Well, I guess I’ve got to take my grown-up ass to work before I head south for the weekend. I just wanted to marvel that I woke up with a smile today. I do that from time to time, but today, I have a good reason!