past and present...

The most beautiful discovery true friends make is that they can grow separately without growing apart. ~Elisabeth Foley



Boy, do I know this; as you read previously, my friend Susan was here for a visit from Ohio. I was so excited for her to share in my life in North Carolina, to see how my life is spent with the people who surround me and just the subtle ins and outs of my day. I wanted her to meet ‘my boys’; Scott, my husband and Nicholas, my son, and oh, I can’t forget Hurricane, our golden retriever who is a huge part of our days because, well, just because he teaches us that from time to time there is nothing more imperative than someone stroking our back reminding us of their constant presence in our life. He also reminds us that regardless of our flaws, we are still lovable and valued, don’t we all need to hear that point?


With the presence of my friend, within three short days I was able to visit places in my years that otherwise wouldn’t have been measured. Through our conversations I was transported to Bowling Green State University in my sorority house pouring peach brandy and Tab into unremarkable glasses with Leslie, Lynda and Chipper. Also, my little Debbie and I were singing, ‘Amee’ by Pure Prairie League at the top of our lungs while we skipped through the middle of campus in the wee hours of the morning when we should have been sleeping. Once more, I was stationed in front of the steam covered mirror with Shoe trying to get her curls to uncurl and hearing Joan’s merriment resonate in the insipid hallways of the place we labeled home.


In just one moment we were once again where Susan settled in Columbus, Ohio reveling in the escapades on Wyandotte Ave. during such visits. We were carried to relationships of old and people whose lives we shared, with flashes of times we laughed and cried collectively and these abundance of recollections all transpired in one short weekend.


So while we were forged to our lives of present, our past experiences were apparent in our togetherness. We discovered throughout that we hadn’t grown away from each other but our lives of past and present had merged into one regardless of the adults who had surfaced. 
Who transports you to another time of life?

Auf Wiedersehen, bis wir uns wiedersehen,
Tracy