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Old friends
Apr. 2nd, 2010 01:56 pmWow, the sky looks like springtime in Arkansas! Ie, black...
I think some good fairy must have given me the gift of good friends when I was small, because I've really been blessed that way. Last night I reconnected with a couple of friends from fourth grade (when I told my kids that, I'm sure they had visions of black and white TV and hunting dinosaurs...) and went out to dinner with them. It was really cool to see that they are still the same people they were--with lots of growth and experiences, of course, but still smart and interesting and nice. I was sad to hear that their mothers had both died of cancer--their mothers were the kind of people who influence a lot of kids in town. But it was also nice to see my impressions of my home town confirmed. We come from a small town of 12,000 people or so, but it's the county seat, and relatively speaking, the "Big City," even though people from outside the area look at its size and don't think much of it. But--nice people live there! And we got an excellent education there. My one friend has a Ph.D. in clinical child psychology and works for an educational testing firm. My other one is a radiologist. And they aren't strange or unusual coming out of our town. For once, I "only" had a master's degree, and I didn't feel like I had to hide the fact that I speak *cough* three languages and have studied three more. It was nice! Sometimes it's sad when you hear about people you once knew who have gone off the deep end and trashed their lives, so I love it when I reconnect with someone I knew and looked up to, and find out that they are still very much themselves, and are out there doing great things in their lives and for other people.
So--here's to good friends everywhere!
I think some good fairy must have given me the gift of good friends when I was small, because I've really been blessed that way. Last night I reconnected with a couple of friends from fourth grade (when I told my kids that, I'm sure they had visions of black and white TV and hunting dinosaurs...) and went out to dinner with them. It was really cool to see that they are still the same people they were--with lots of growth and experiences, of course, but still smart and interesting and nice. I was sad to hear that their mothers had both died of cancer--their mothers were the kind of people who influence a lot of kids in town. But it was also nice to see my impressions of my home town confirmed. We come from a small town of 12,000 people or so, but it's the county seat, and relatively speaking, the "Big City," even though people from outside the area look at its size and don't think much of it. But--nice people live there! And we got an excellent education there. My one friend has a Ph.D. in clinical child psychology and works for an educational testing firm. My other one is a radiologist. And they aren't strange or unusual coming out of our town. For once, I "only" had a master's degree, and I didn't feel like I had to hide the fact that I speak *cough* three languages and have studied three more. It was nice! Sometimes it's sad when you hear about people you once knew who have gone off the deep end and trashed their lives, so I love it when I reconnect with someone I knew and looked up to, and find out that they are still very much themselves, and are out there doing great things in their lives and for other people.
So--here's to good friends everywhere!
