Friends that last…

I know I’ve commented before about how interesting it is that you can be close to some people, not see them for a few weeks, and have to start from scratch, but there are others that you can completely lose touch with and when you reconnect it’s like picking up where you left off.

This past weekend, I had the joy of reconnecting with one of the latter type.

I first met Nikki when we were both still living in residence at University. Her personality appealed to me. She’s very honest and genuine… she’s a caring soul, of the sort who would drop everything to help a friend in need, but at the same time, she pulls no punches. If she’s got something to say to you, you’re going to be treated to an untainted view. And for those two character traits, I value her deeply.

We shared a similar background, too, in a way… both being products of Catholic families and all-girls schools.

We became good friends. In fact, when I first became engaged back in the day, she was the first person I called with the news, and asked her to be in my wedding party. Sadly, that relationship fell apart and I kind of withdrew from the world around the same time she was moving away to help her parents establish a restaurant and we lost touch. That was in ’98.

Last month we reconnected (facebook IS good for something other than eating time!) and on Sunday I visited her at her new apartment. 5 hours of chatter later, I had to run (since I was really supposed to be home an hour or so before I realized the time *laugh*), but it was like no time had passed.

Yes, we had a lot to catch up on… the boys of the intervening years… the real reason for the breakup of my first engagement… pictures to look at… careers to catch up on… stories of Katrina (the Hurricane… she was living in New Orleans at the time)… the lasting effects of psychological and emotional trauma that a surprising number of people just don’t “get”…religion vs. spirituality… wishes and dreams… we shared views on various subjects… we ate, we drank, we chatted like we had back in school. There was no awkwardness, just an easy friendship.

I am very thankful for facebook at the moment for bringing Nikki back into my life. I’ve missed her, and often wondered what her life had brought her. Thank goodness we both found that darn site… and thank goodness I took a chance and sent a message to her, even without benefit of a picture to be sure it was the right person *laugh*

I look forward to more afternoons and evenings of friendship and chatter… to showing her my home (eventually)… to chillin’ with her cat ;) … and introducing her to mine… to having her and D meet (and hopefully get along)… to redecorating her bathroom (ah, the challenges of sea-foam green tiles *laugh*)… to discussion photography... and this time I’m going to make darn sure we don’t fade out of each others’ lives again for no good reason!