Today my email held a message from a man who was in my original writer's group back in the mid 1990s. When the group disbanded, he was headed for retirement and moving back east someplace. According to his message, he's back in the Northwest and wanted to know if I'd like to get together to do some "yammering." Of course, my response to him was YES!!
Don't know how you are about people who have come and gone in your life, but I oftentimes find myself wondering about this one or that one. I've even considered stopping at various homes of people who used to be in my circle back when the boys were in school and played soccer and basketball to see how the parents and their kids are doing. I then wonder if they ever wonder about me and my boys and how we're doing.
One of the sad things about getting older is how your circle of friends can shrink. I went back to my 50th high school reunion last June and there were a few people I recognized, but not many. My class was the largest graduating class ever and with the exception of one person (because mutual friends brought us back together), I don't see or have contact with any of the schoolmates I hung with back then.
All the mothers and fathers with whom I was friendly during the time the kids spent in school and involved in sports...and with two kids ten years apart, it was a very long time...are no longer a part of my friend circle. In some cases, this was not surprising, but in other instances, I actually thought we had a friendlier relationship than that. I miss knowing what happened in their boy's lives...are they happily married, children, live close by? I really cared about some of those young men.
Then, there are the friends who moved away, but with whom I am still in touch. I talked to my best friend on Cape Cod this past Saturday. Her youngest son is getting married next month, and we chatted about that and other aspects of our lives as though we'd talked the day before. Another best friend is in Florida and she sent me an email (to which I have yet to reply, for shame) about this blog and how she is doing in her retirement. Again, if we met up tomorrow, we'd take up as though we'd seen each other just last week. I have a few other friends like this and I so enjoy catching up with them on a fairly regular basis to celebrate or commiserate about our lives and the lives of their children.
Friendships like that make me wonder even more about all the people who were woven into the fabric of my life even though their particular swatch of yarn may no longer be included in today's design. I feel sad when I think about how those individuals have moved on and no longer add to the pattern, color and beauty of my life. I'd love to know how their lives and families have changed over the years. I'd love to know that, like me, they sometimes remember a particular basketball game, field trip, graduation, team pizza party and wonder how me and my family are doing. I'm sure they must, or at least I hope so.
I'm really looking forward to seeing my writer friend and catching up. I have thought of him and the others that were in the group over the years and wondered how they were doing; were they published; were they still writing? At least with Dennis, I'll be able to catch up on his life (and maybe even some of the others if he's stayed in touch) when we get together to yammer at each other.
Do you wonder about the hundreds of people who have touched on your life? Have you ever reached out to one or more of them to catch up? Were you happy you did?
No comments:
Post a Comment