Every time I meet with old friends, I have this weird pit in my stomach. This knot that won’t go away. I’m not sure if I’m hungry. Or stressed. Or tired. But that anxious feeling never goes away.
Except for today. Today I met with two groups of friends: one group of friends I hadn’t seen for a few months and were friends from Spain; another group of friends I hadn’t seen for a few weeks–they were friends who I had met in college but who had gone abroad in the past few weeks.
To start the afternoon off, I drove to Hermosa Beach where we had planned a Spanish picnic poolside, complete with tapas and sangria. And even though I had not seen these people the past few months, everything felt so easy. Everything fell into place. It was nice to hear about one person’s anticipating travels to Spain, another’s explanation about her fascination with the Glee Project, and one girl’s vow to log off Facebook to study for graduate school exams. I was happy and at peace.
At night, I drove to Westminster and ate at Pho 54, a Vietnamese noodle house with the friends who had returned from being abroad. One had left to China to visit family, another had left to Japan to teach English and one had flown back from studying in the Caribbean for medical school. Though we hadn’t seen each other for various lengths of time, it felt like no time had passed.
As I was driving home from these two reunions, I pondered on how this entire day helped bring calm and serenity to my social life. The past few weeks post-college have been frantic as I attempt to maintain every single friendship that I’ve made. At the root of it, I know that I’m scared of change because I’m not ready for it.
Today cleared my thoughts. All I can say is “thank you.” Thank you for making me feel as if time hasn’t changed. Thank you for being there with me.
Love love love this (and you)!