what is to be made of old friends? i had lunch with a friend over the weekend and she wondered if it was too idealistic to expect that everybody she invites to her wedding (whenever that is) will be people she’s known for many years. and it got me thinking. there are many people with whom i’ve lost touch over the years. friends from high school, college, grad school. the cynic, i suppose, would say that if the bond wasn’t strong enough to survive, it was never a truly good friendship in the first place. i’ve been working on being less cynical lately — or, at least, playing devil’s advocate with myself. so, i decided that although people come and go from our lives, their presence (however long or short) filled a need at the time. that’s not to say that everybody we know is just a mere friend of convenience (though, i know of one person in particular who feels this way). i decided that it’s best to focus on the time you did have together, and not the time you could have had together. too much focus on could’ve, should’ve, and would’ve detracts from the truly meaningful memories one might’ve shared with a friend or group of friends. and — who knows — perhaps those once great friends who have drifted away will come back into your life later on. we only have the privilege of knowing about the past and present. we can’t know the future. we can’t know who will still be in our lives in a day, a week, a month, a year, or longer. no matter the reason for the separation, i’d like to reminisce on the good times and do my best to forget about the bad times (if there were any). and if (when?) i’m reunited with old friends, i hope it’ll be just like old times. (now maybe i’m the idealistic one.)
