It’s absurdly cold here today, and it’s April! Usually it’s mild or warm, with a touch of humidity in the air. That’ll come later this week, but it seems the weather wanted to do an April Fool’s prank on us. Anyway things have been okay around here. I still haven’t heard back from the job I applied to here at my company, and if I don’t that will really dent my confidence because it felt like I’d at least get an interview. Other opportunities I still keep waiting on, and hoping that it will be the one. With family drama and this frustration about career, some good fortune could come my way please. Perhaps it has though, in the form of past meeting present.
By that I mean getting in touch with old friends, including one of my best friends who I can consider my brother. Some people need to be in touch with another almost daily, while others can live their life for weeks or months and get together and talk like it was yesterday. Him and I are in the latter, and we’ve been hanging out more lately. I kinda got the hint when he would text about every week to see what I’m up to and if we can hang out. So we finally did, and I bought him and my other best friend dinner. . . at the restaurant that ruined my graduation experience.
Those who’ve been around my blog for awhile might remember that night. A long graduation ceremony, going to the bar we reserved, only to have the food come out almost 2 hours later and not cooked well. They ended up sending me a gift card as an apology, and over a year later I went to finally give them another shot. The food was much better, more expensive than I recall, and it was pleasant. When I gave them the card though, the waiter told me it had a balance of zero dollars on it. If y’all could’ve seen the look on my face, or what was going through my mind, I was about to be like “Are you kidding me?!”. But fortunately he talked to the manager and everything was resolved. I always thought gift cards were supposed to not have expiration dates unless noted otherwise.
So it was great seeing him again, and we played basketball the following day; and intend to hang out next weekend. Out of all my friends, he is perhaps the one I closely relate because we share similar values. He’s a go-getter and wants to explore and live each day, and be successful. We didn’t hang out often lately cause of work and school, and just finding our path but when we did get together I could see the similarities. It’s funny considering our personalities when we were in high school. As for my other friends, and the topic of old faces reappearing, two of my other friends got in touch with their exes. One ex contacted my friend to catch up and make amends for the way she treated him two years ago. They may hang out again, and be friends but he has a girlfriend so nothing more than that; though he does like the attention he never got years ago. As for the other ex, well, she certainly got in touch with my best friend if you know what I mean.
This is the one who was dating a woman 11 years older with two kids, and he ended it when he felt he couldn’t be open about the relationship to his family. But things change, and he’s going through things at home. I don’t know if it’s just comfort or what, but after she made continuous advances, like two months after splitting, they got back together. He says he’ll be more open about it at home, and I asked if he’s okay possibly not having kids of his own down the road. He said it’s alright, but it’s one thing to say something at 26 and another when you’re 38. It is just interesting how people from our past can come out of the blue and make you re-think things and perspectives. How different we can be whether it’s two months later or two years later. It made me think who else in my life could pop back in at any moment? Old friends from elementary? Ones from my grad program? What about the ones I made around the world? You just never know who can leave and come into your life.
What I do know, and appreciate, is the effort it took to get over that fear of “Oh it’s been so long, I don’t want to bother them” or “Maybe they don’t remember me or want to talk” because so many of us feel that way. As they say nowadays, shoot your shot and you never know what could happen; whether it’s old faces, new faces, or some other opportunity. I mean, I’ve been trying that for my jobs, hobbies, and all! Taking chances and trying, like I often say here, can lead to amazing moments. Sometimes those from the past can come back in and carry on with us into the future, but most importantly we want to always try and step out of our bubble and grow from where we’ve been and what we’ve done before.
Novatourist 