During a recent walk with our family dog I was fortunate enough to get reacquainted with an old friend. She and her 3yr old daughter came running out of the house to greet us. It was great to see her, meet her daughter for the first time and be reminded about what a great friendship we had growing up. Her and I used to spend afternoons together, had many sleepovers and kept each other company while our Mother's had their various woman's parties.

It got me to thinking, what happened? How did our lives separate so that we never kept in touch? Is it possible to reconnect after so much time has passed? Over the past 20 years we each got married, moved away, began our families and somehow lost sight of our friendship along the way. Funny thing is we both ended up nearly next to each other, only 3 houses separate our houses, at nearly the same stage in our life.

While I remember being fast friends with her I can not remember any of the details. I don't remember her favorite color, hobby, food, what she wanted to be when we grew up etc. I don't even remember when her birthday is or her actual age other than knowing she is younger. It's as if I am meeting an old friend and a complete stranger all at once when I see her.

So I am now faced with a large amount of guilt, for not keeping in touch, sprinkled with a healthy dose of curiosity. I feel compelled to reach out and make an attempt towards renewing our friendship but struggle with 'how.'

I can keep walking past their house in attempts to see if she'll come out again, hoping she doesn't think I am stalking her, or I can just stop by some day with a basket of something (wouldn't it be nice to remember some of her likes and dislikes here!) but don't want to seem to pushy ... again stalking comes to mind.

So here I sit at the crossroad of indecision.
4 Responses
  1. Millennium Mom Says:

    I love how you refer to it as stalking! That's how I always feel when I walk past the neighbors house on my 10th trip around the cul de sac... just waiting for them to come out and play. Chances are... she's up for the company as much as you are!


  2. Oh, totally go with the stalking.;)


  3. I agree totally with Outnumbered on this one. From personal experience stalking is the way to go here. The gift idea is a nice form of bribery, but let her give a gift to you. If you are re-establishing things be sure you get the upper hand this time.


  4. Blarney Says:

    Thanks for the help everyone; haven't gone stalking ... I mean walking lately but it's getting warmer again ... well okay some day it's got too right?!