For the past little while, I’ve been a little lonely for my “childhood” friends; the ones I hung out with as a teenager and really matured with. We all had such high hopes, such huge dreams. Now, ten years later, I wondered what they were all up to, how they made out in life. We all wanted to get out of that little town.
So, a little Googling, a few emails, and a long phonecall later, I’ve found some of them! And I couldn’t be more proud!
One is an artist, living in a city close to my hometown that he always loved. This is so typical of him, too: he was the guy who we all asked to do artwork when we had a project, the guy who wrote his own goofy greeting cards, the guy who was always painting some mural, who drew all over his walls, and who wanted to be an animator. I see his work mentioned in magazines, now, and he seems happy with what he is doing. Hooray!
Another is a teacher in China. Yep, he was the guy who loved people, and above all else, loved travel. He’s been to London, Turkey, a whole handful of European countries I no longer even remember, and now he’s teaching kids in China how to speak English. Yay!
Another is a successful female DJ. She and her partner help raise money for breast cancer awareness. You guessed it; she was the young lesbian (who, incidentally, was the girl who changed my mind about* everything * - we didn’t do anything, she wasn’t interested in me, but I still have a huge soft spot for her that feels deceptively like a crush) who listened to a lot of dance/club music. She was beautiful, feminine, lovely, and so talented. A recent picture shows me that not much has changed, except that she’s very successful. Hurrah!
Speaking to one of my old friends on the phone, she was so happy to hear from me. She was pleased to hear what had become of all the others, and then she asked me what I was up to. As I’m not working right now, and have no children, I mentioned that I was working on a fiction book, then described a little bit about it to her. She got very excited. “You always wanted to be a writer!” she exclaimed. “You were always the poet. You were always the one with the huge vocabulary and we could never understand what you were saying! You always had that little notebook in your pocket, and you’d jot things down. And there was always a book you were excited about…” I stopped her, and told her I wasn’t published yet, hell, the book wasn’t even finished, and who knows if anyone will pick it up? But she was proud of me anyway. I thought about her words, and yeah… wow. She’s right. I was the one who took Writing class twice, even though I wouldn’t get a credit the second time around, because I had so much fun with the Writing teacher, even though we normally didn’t get along. You see, his favourite books were the dictionary and the thesaurus, and I completely agreed. I did always carry a little hardbound notebook in my back pocket (usually with colourful pages and vaguely anime-esque characters on them, since I could buy them at the dollar store), and whipped it out and scribbled furiously whenever I got an idea.
So, though I’m not quite there yet, and need a bit of polishing, I am giving it a shot.
Isn’t it strange, how when you look back on the lives of the people you know, you can see a pattern? Isn’t it wonderful to discover that your old friends have followed their dreams, and are doing the things they always loved?
Today, I sit here, brimming with love and hope for all of my dear friends. I’m so glad they made it. I’m so glad they are happy. I’m so proud of them all.
Tell me about your experiences in catching up with old friends! Did they, too, follow the path they seemed to be destined to walk? Or did they veer off in a completely unexpected direction? Was it for the better?
Had a kooky job publishing day planners when last we spoke.