I've been in contact with an old friend this week. We went our separate ways at eighteen - she went away to uni and I went and got married. She lived up north for a long time and now lives in Wales. Christmas cards, letters and the occasional e-mail have been our only form of contact since we met up briefly about twenty years ago, just before her parents moved to Wales to be near to her.
We dawdled idly through our mutual adolescence on the edge of parental boundaries - I don't suppose we were that bad, but alcohol, boys and skiving off school were big features of our teenage years from 11-18. We went to different schools, so skiving was sooooo easy! We never once got caught.
She now lives and works only a few miles from Caerleon - the home of the Writers' Holiday. I emailed her to tell her I would be in Wales in July and on Tuesday evening I rang her.
The first thing that struck me was her Welsh accent! It made me want to laugh out loud because she most definitely didn't sound Welsh twenty years ago. She said I sounded just like my mum!
After the first ten minutes or so of polite exchange of news about our respective jobs and kids we sort of slipped back in time. It felt just like we were teenagers again. I could almost feel my mum creeping up behind me, ready to yell 'get off that phone'.
Our mums were both such old meanies about the phone. They didn't seem to understand just how critical our late night phone calls were - mind you we did live next door to each other!
So - pick up the phone and renew an old friendship or acquaintance. You won't regret it. I promise.
9 comments:
I guess you are going to meet her.
I'm crap at keeping up with old friends.
What a lovely post.
On Friday, I met up with a friend I hadn't seen for 3 years and wondered why I'd left it so long.
Time just flies by.
What a great idea! And I had a lovely time yesterday meeting three blog friends!
Ah the days of mums and phones - only after six o'clock, only for a couple of minutes and usually with no privacy:-)
Like Kev, I'm a bad friend, useless at keeping in touch.
You're going to have a great holiday Annie!:-)
Thats lovely! Im really awful at catching up with anyone these days. Infact Im pretty antisocial! Glad you had a good time!
I'm not great at keeping in touch either, sadly. Although, in my case, I believe that if we were meant to have stayed friends, we probably would have :o)
"So - pick up the phone and renew an old friendship or acquaintance. You won't regret it. I promise."
Great advice, Annieye!
It's a bit late now, but just popped over to tell you that it's Blogger Appreciation Day (http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/04/14/today-is-blogger-appreciation-day-unofficial/) and to let you know how much you are appreciated!
Darren Rowse started this feegood this morning and am sharing it with everyone I know, what a lovely start to the week.
Have a good one!
:o)
Isn't it lovely when you just sink back into an old friendship. You've reminded me that I haven't phoned one of my uni friends since Christmas, I'll do it!
How excited will you be in July! Writer's holiday, old friend to meet up with, bet you have a great week.
I'm so glad that you enjoyed yourself with your friend.
I did contact an old friend several years ago (best friends at school and all that) and it was fine at first but didn't work out, which was a bit of a shame.
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