When a friend comes to Chicago unexpectedly, I just have to stop what I’m doing and get out the wine, and the cheese if we have any. She’ll be here soon. We’ll sit by the window. We’ll look out at the lake and speak of times past, when we were younger, quicker, unwiser. Or maybe when she arrives from the airport, she’d rather go to a fabulous restaurant. She does like her fine dining. Well okay, so do I.
Either way we will talk of our sons, and the world, financial markets, parents, and why people are so difficult to be with—and not easy like we are. It will be fun, emotional, and quite a relief to realize that we’re still human—and still alive. Then soon enough tomorrow will come, and we’ll be back living our lives again. We’ll be filled up with memories we talked about and those that we didn’t need to, because they came flooding in as soon as we saw each other. That’s what friends do. They give me back the me I left in their safekeeping while we were apart.
An unexpected night in Chicago with a friend is always worth giving up what I was going to do—what could possibly compete?
—me strauss Letting me be
6 comments:
I love spending time with a good old friend. There's a deep bond that makes it easy to pick up from where you left off.
There's nothing else better -- especially when opportunities to get together get rarer as one gets older. Sometimes a good friend reminds one of who one really is inside.
Hello Miss Ies,
Thanks for stopping by. I know just what you mean. Lifelong friends have a way of keeping hold of the threads of your life and not letiing go. They make saying hello again easy.
Liz
Hi Liz,
I'm always so glad when you add your thoughts to any discussion. You bring depth and dimension to it. Yeah a good friend reminds one of who one really is inside. I couldn't say it any better than that.
Liz
I can't wait to see Chicago. I've been to the east and west coast of the US, been to the south-west and even Texas, but never Chicago.
I know, sorry, it's got nothing to do with your post of meeting old friends and halting your life briefly for that meeting, but it just made me feel like visiting Chicago.
Hi Melly,
I think it's grand you want to visit Chicago. I'd love to meet you here sometime. It's really alot like Toronto. The Art Institute reminds me of the Toronto Train Station. The cities have a lot in common.
Liz
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