Old friends

It's been kind of a rough week. Even though we got great news on Monday about our healthy baby girl on the way, I'm still worrying about a lot of stuff. Grownup worries, the kind your parents told you that you'd have some day and you oughta enjoy being young and responsibility-light for as long as you could. (Yep, they were right.) I know I speak for many of us out there -- I just wish the future seemed a bit more secure, more certain and less murky. Wishes, wishes, wishes.

So I am a worrier, but I'm also a doer. I feel better if I feel like I'm at least trying to "do" something about whatever's worrying me. Today that included hitting a professional conference in a field I worked in recently.

One of the highlights was running into an old friend from college. She and I were close many years ago, went our separate ways for many years after I think I drove her bananas being too clingy and needy. Coincidentally our paths crossed in recent years for professional reasons, and it has been great to reconnect all these years later and catch up on children, family and work. It hasn't been awkward for a second, either. I ran into her today and wow, it was nice to see a really familiar, friendly face. It felt like a security blanket in a way, if that makes any sense. We gabbed and then moved onto a professional roundtable discussion in our field (by coincidence, we were assigned to the same discussion group) and I was really impressed with how much she knew about the field and her insights. This was someone with whom I used to drink wine coolers with and endlessly talk about boys. This is before I even knew she was a Republican! Heehee.

I had to duck out of the conference early to finish a work project and thus did not get to say good-bye. She sent a really nice email at the end of the day saying how it was great to run into each other and into someone with whom she didn't have to have a forced conversation with. It just put a smile on my face that's still there tonight as I write this. We need people in our lives like that -- the ones where conversations are natural and fun. Thanks, friend.