re-acquaintance
It seems there is much to say this Sunday. While I could have written this in with the finality post, it didn’t really fit. In going through my old papers today, I came across a picture of someone who was a friend of mine that I went to high school with.
Not believing this to be a coincidence, I decided to try and contact her. (I find myself embracing the idea that everything happens for a reason more and more.) She and I had not spoken in over a decade, quite posibly 15 years or so. And yet, going through my papers, there was the small black and white photo of her sitting at a piano on a stool, body turned to face the camera and looking straight at it, looking as serious and pretty as I remember.
Well, after rummaging around, I discovered I no longer had her phone number written down, at least not in my house. Funny thing was, I wrote down her phone number from memory. After 15 years, I wrote down what I thought was her phone number. I knew her phone number was in my senior high school yearbook, but it turns out I don’t have it at the moment, my parents do. So, I tried a few sites on the internet, trying to confirm if my memory was correct, seeing if I could locate her through a couple of class reunion directories, to no avail.
So I called my parents. I hadn’t talked to them in about a week anyway, so i decided to call. They still have the high school yearbooks that failed to make the trip to South Carolina with me. So, long story short, after some pleasant conversation, I asked about my high school yearbook, and yes, they were able to find her phone number in there for me. After more than 20 years, I still knew exactly where it was. Even more unlikely, the phone number I wrote down but was unable to find on the internet was the correct number. I can still tell you the phone number for one of my other high school friends, at least to his parents house, although I haven’t called it in over 20 years.
I called the number, feeling like a kid calling a girl for the first time, heart pounding. I expected to get a disconnect message, or an answering machine at a business, or to explain to the person on the other end, only to have them tell me they had no idea who she was and I’d called a wrong number.
But none of those things happened. In fact, not only was it the right number, but she was actually there! The best I was hoping for was for someone to tell me that she’d gotten married, maybe take my name and number and pass it to her when they talked to her again.
We talked on the phone for a bit, that same melodic voice I remember from so long ago coming through the phone. It wasn’t enough time, but then again, you can’t exactly describe 15 years of life in an hour. I know she’s changed since we talked, and I know I have, and it was evident on the phone. But there’s still that shining quality to her voice that I remember.
We exchanged addresses and phone numbers, to keep in touch and reach out to each other, see how the other has changed over the years. I am looking forward to getting to know how the years have affected her, for better or worse. She’s had some ups and downs, as we all have. I don’t yet know why the universe has led me to get back in touch with her, maybe it’s just to touch the spirit of an old friend to let her know there’s still someone who thinks about her now and then. Whatever the reason, I’ll be in touch.