I was sitting around, killing time on MSN when a little conversation window popped up. It wasn’t the usual, “Do you want this person to contact you?” warning, but an actual conversation window. It was weird.
“I don’t know if you remember me, but…”
I looked at the email address next to the display name, and something in my little exhausted mind went click!
I know this person, I remember talking to them, I know about their family, their interests, where they came from, their full name…
But it had all happened years ago – my mother was still alive then. It wasn’t long after I’d started high school that I first ran into this person. But I thought he was gone.
A little over a year ago, I was clearing out some old contacts that I hadn’t spoken to for quite a while; I really did think this guy had disappeared, so I hit the delete button without much thought. I must not have checked that little “and by the way – block this person too” box though, because here he was, out of the blue, asking me how I was.
“Wow, you have a sharp memory.”
Not sharp enough, though – I couldn’t remember much about his personality, and I wasn’t sure if he was being sarcastic or surprised, if he was social, or if I’d have to try to carry the conversation. I didn’t even know how to react.
I just sat there. And blinked. It had been years. Why now, of all times?
I skipped the part about the crazy week of calls and conversations to get help for a depressed friend, the sad ending to my mother’s fight with cancer, and my near-romance with my pen pal of two years. I wanted to know how this guy was doing, where he was, what he was up to – nothing else mattered. I was surprised to see him, but deep down, it made me smile to know he was still alive, still thinking and breathing and… surfing?
And celebrating a birthday, planning to go to graduate school, and caring about the plight of America’s mustangs.
And talking to me about all of it.
I was too dumbfounded to say much, but in less than twenty minutes, I felt like we’d been talking non-stop all these years. We touched on politics, horses, college, relationships, life in general, and what’s next. Some of what he said made me worry, but at least there’s someone there to worry about.
By the time he signed off to go to bed, I was literally dizzy. And smiling.
Really, truly smiling.
It really has been a crazy life lately, but right now, I don’t think I’d change it if I could.
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