Friday, July 13, 2007

A voice from the past

The phone rang the other evening. When I picked up, the voice on the other end was an old college friend I hadn't talked to in twenty years. She's planning a get together at her lake house the first weekend in August, would I come? Two other old friends will be there: one I had lost touch with, the other I had only exchanged Christmas cards with for a number of years. Of course, I'm going; and I'm looking forward to it. But it feels, I don't know, wistful.

In my mind's eye, they are all still the young women (girls almost) I once knew; and, maybe more importantly, so am I. So there's the draw of being with a group of women who can still see in their mind's eyes the person I once was (and really still am, really, in some way, if only on the inside). And then there is the big gap between what we were and what we are, all the twists and changes, some good and some not so good, some that might have been predicted others not. Most significantly, there are all those years, in each of our lives, that are gone. Where have they gone? Where have they gone?

Well, these were good young women to know: smart, funny, creative. Odds are in favor of it being a rewarding weekend. I'm grateful to Kathy for calling.

3 comments:

Jeanne said...

Go. You'll have a wonderful time. When you see each other, it will be like no time has passed at all.

Elizabeth said...

Isn't it strange how that can make you feel?

Christine said...

Cindy ~ just think of the fun you can have regaling each other with all the things that have gone on in your life since college! I don't do college reunions, but I do attend some family ones, and they're always wonderfully fun and funny. Time, thankfully, gives us perspective, so we can laugh at our foibles instead of crying over them.

Btw, I just ordered your "I Can't Believe I'm Knitting Socks" from Amazon. I've never yet knit a sock, but I'm going to master this if it takes forever!