Reunited, and It Feels So Good

On Monday night I had a dinner with someone I hadn't seen or spoken to properly in almost twelve years. And it was pretty awesome!

I spend a great deal (read: way too much) time online. I blog here. I blog there. I also blog over there. I read 749 other blogs. I tweet. I read random fashion and TV sites. I occasionally try and keep up with the news, too. And now I'm even getting Sam into playing online, so I usually spend some time at Sprout.com most days. So I resisted with great fervor the bevy of social networking sites laid before me in recent years. I knew they would just be a non-essential time suck. 

Then my dad signed up on the Facebook, and I was cornered. I got an invite from him, and I can't say no to my daddy. If you ever want something from me and don't know how to get it, just have my dad ask for you. I'm helpless against him. So I joined up. 

At first, the only 'friends' I had were relatives. I'm the oldest of my generation, so I started following all of my hip teenage cousins. But after my brother signed up, I started discovering some old high school people. Some I barely knew, but others I had been close with. I lost touch with pretty much everyone from high school right after I started college because I was hell bent on re-inventing myself. I moved 300 miles away and pretended that the place where I came from never existed for a few years. Luckily, I made some pretty awesome friends in college, but because I was a dumb ass I left behind a few pretty awesome friends from high school.

Enter the Facebook. Through my bro I was friended by M, one of my best high school buddies. We chatted back and forth about life in the past decade and did the general catching up thing. Then she said she was going to be in town for work and would love to get together. Right off the bat I agreed, and while I was excited I was also extremely nervous. 

First of all, I am pregnant, and besides that somewhat, um, larger than I'd like to be. Especially compared to high school. I mean, at least I have the whole pregnancy thing going as an excuse, but still? Large and in charge. Secondly, I am boring! One of the very first messages she sent me contained the word 'legendary' and I can assure you, there is NOTHING legendary about my life right now unless you count the number of asses I wipe on a daily basis. Because I do, in fact, wipe a lot of butts. But everything else? Meh. I drive a fucking mini-van. Going to the Y and grocery store are big outings for me and the kiddies. I love it and wouldn't trade it for the world, but it doesn't make for very interesting dinner conversation. 

As the days ticked down to our date, I began to fret over what I was going to wear and what restaurant we should go to. I flat ironed my hair, people. I've been with SOB forever, but I can only imagine that this is what dating must be like. 

Finally the day arrived. 

I went out to pick Lulu up from school, and when I got back she was there, looking as youthful and radiant as she did in 1997. After an embrace and an admonishment from Sam to talk quietly, as he was watching TV, we moved into the dining room and started talking. The conversation flowed as easily as it did all those years ago, and even though it was cliche, I got out a box of photos and we poured over the old images. Sometimes we couldn't remember what or when or where, but we laughed all the same. Dinner was more of the same. Our meal was eaten at a snail's pace because we just couldn't stop talking. New stuff, old stuff and everything in between. Stories of people who have ended up in prison (mostly) made us laugh and stories of people who have died made us pause, sometimes to keep the tears from spilling, other times just to take it in. 

Once we said our goodbyes, and made plans for another get together in the near future, I spent almost an hour giddily recounting every minute to SOB. He knew better than to stop me, so he switched on his video game and listened with half an ear as I prattled on and on, quite literally like a school girl. 

Me & M.C. 1996