Positively Giddy

After walking around in a complete funk for most of Thursday, I did a complete 360, true to my mood swinging M.O., and was positively giddy yesterday. Literally, I walked around with a bounce in my step. Me - a bounce! I usually barely have the energy for a slow, dragging shuffle. The reason for this major shift in demeanor? Great news today via Facebook. Again with the Facebook! What is it with this marvel of modern Internet? Facebook is like my new fairy Godmother, granting me joy with each friend request and message on my 'wall.' Today I received a friend request AND a message from one of my bestest BFF's from high school. I say BFF because in high school I really thought we'd be friends forever. Our senior year, we were inseparable. We did everything together -- partly because I had no dates or boyfriends in high school, but mostly because she was great and one of those people that I just clicked with right away. I've only had a handful of people like that in my life, my husband being one. I remember when I first met this high school BFF. Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, she said made me laugh. She couldn't say anything without me doubling over in fits of giggles. I suspect this must have been slightly annoying to her, since she wasn't cracking jokes all the time. If it weren't for this funny friend, I think my high school experience would've been pretty lame (well, I guess I should say slightly more lame - did I mention that I never had a date?!) This friend went to parties, and she actually HAD parties at her house when her parents went out of town. Cool! This friend was a lifeguard at her neighborhood pool during the summer. Score! I got to hang out at a pool all day yet had no pressure to have to save a life! Oh how the memories came flooding back when I heard from her yesterday! Memories of lying to our parents and sneaking out to a party thrown by college kids; memories of running from a party through backyards--in bare feet in winter-- back to her house when the 'cops busted' the party. OK, so when I look back through my mom glasses, I can see that this BFF may not have been the best influence all the time, but I sure did have a hell of a lot of fun for those last couple of years of high school.

After high school, we both went our separate ways. She went to college out of state. I went to college in state. We made new friends and had different experiences, and our contact during winter and summer breaks became less and less frequent. By our senior years of college, we'd pretty much lost touch. We'd become different people with different lives and just didn't 'click' anymore. We tried to stay in touch, but it just didn't seem real anymore, so we accepted it, sadly, and moved on. I mourned the loss of our friendship, but I looked back fondly on her as one of those significant people in my life. One that helped to shape who I am today, and I was grateful for the short time we were friends. As that e-mail that has circulated through cyberspace since the Internet was known as 'cyberspace' states, "some friends are in your life for a season, a reason, or a lifetime." I'd accepted that this friend was for, apparently, just a season, not for a lifetime, but she was definitely in my life for a reason. That I knew for sure.

When my husband and I moved back to my hometown almost nine years ago, it was hard for me. Not only does this town hold a lot of my childhood 'baggage,' but it also held a lot of memories of my crazy antics with this special high school friend, who I still missed every now and then. I ended up moving to the area of town where I went to highschool (though I swore I wouldn't), so during my suburban mom life, I travel around our 'old stomping grounds' on a daily basis. Throughout the years, I'd often see a place that held a memory, and I would wonder what happened to my friend and feel a little sad that we'd let our friendship slip away. But I didn't dwell on it. I would just go about my mini-van driving day. However, yesterday, it all changed. Yesterday I got the Facebook message. I got the message that said, "It's me, do you remember? Sorry I've lost touch." A message that said, "I've moved back to town with my husband and son!" A message that, well, made me positively giddy. A message I didn't think would ever come because I figured I was the only one who ever moved back here. But she. is. back! And I'm blown away by that fact.

We'll see how things go from this point on. I'm sure we'll have a getting reacquainted period, since we have many years and experiences between who we were then and who we are today. I'm sure just because we're living in the same town once more doesn't necessarily mean that we'll be inseparable again. We still lead our own lives, the lives we've been creating since we tossed our caps in the air almost twenty years (ahem! feel free NOT to do the math) ago. But, I'm excited to see how this next, unexpected chapter unfolds. If nothing else, this has shown me that anything is possible. It has shown me that if someone is in your life for a reason, then they are in your life for a lifetime, too. They helped make you. They are the building blocks of who you are, and if they move back to town, too, well then, that's just an added bonus!