Reuniting With Old Friends

Suddenly around Thanksgiving which my roommate and a coworker had just helped ruin for me, (I did not post about any of this online.) my high school sweetheart who is a friend on FB popped up in my inbox just checking in to say hello.

He is getting a divorce. He mentioned that so much had been changing since we last spoke a few years ago it might be easier to catch up if we were to talk on the phone.

We got on the phone and talked for six or eight hours. During which time he invited me out to visit. I went to high school three thousand miles from where I was born and currently live.

He offered to pay bus fair but I told him I couldn’t afford to take that much time off work to travel for a week just to arrive. “Plane tickets are a little pricey but I could maybe do half.” He was sort of muttering, thinking out loud and calculating his finances I would assume but I was also intrigued.

I know what it costs to travel cross country by plane and I was willing to put up half to salvage my holiday season and see some old friends.

He was offering for me to stay at his house, alone since the soon to be ex-wife has the kids most of the time.

My gal pal best friend from way back then lives about an hour away from where he stays. I mentioned “If I travel back out all that way you know I have to see her as much as I will want to spend time with you.”

I quickly messaged her asking if she had any plans for Christmas and NYE. I figured it would be an extra bummer if she was going to be unavailable.

She said she had no plans though. Now a plan began to take shape. I went back on the airline websites to map out the cheapest fly dates.

I knew my offices would be closed for a few days that I could include in my holiday time off request and not have them count negatively against me.

My plan was to go for the week after Christmas and come home around New years day. However, you know how life is busy happening while we are trying to make plans.

The cheap fly dates included Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, the 9th of January or the 11th.

And that is how a 17-day cross country impromptu vacation was crafted.

With details more in place I put that happy news on Facebook hoping to stir up other locals who might also be available to reconnect with while I was in town and just express the joy of the season.

A friend from way back then who is a bit younger than my former classmates responded. This friend and I met through church youth group back in the day.

“Are you going to come up to town so I can see you?” She asked.

I wasn’t even aware she still lived in the tiny one stoplight town we all wanted nothing more than to get out of when we were younger.

We began to message back and forth. I mentioned that I was getting excited about the trip, thrilled to fully expect to have the first white snowy Christmas in twenty seven years.

“Oh,” she said “It’s not snowy in Michigan this Thanksgiving.”

Wait What?! I did a double take looking at the text.

Then she laid another whammy on me. She said “I am not home but I will be back in time for Christmas and NYE. I’m in Florida.”

Why we didn’t all plan to meet for the holidays in Florida will be a question we will always wonder about.

The town we all met in is hours away from the other two I was going to connect with but I was unconcerned. I figured I had plenty of time even if I had to catch Greyhound to get around because folks were busy working.

What I really wanted to do was spend NYE in NYC but my friend said she needed to clear that time off request with her company and that ended up not happening.

It’s a kind of surreal time in the lives of us parents now that our kids are grown and moved out or if they are spending time away from us for holidays after years of their noise and presence, the joyful expectation and all the ins and outs of taking care of them.

I left my home in northern California on Christmas eve. I spent the night in LAX and arrived at the airport in my friend’s city on Christmas day. My friend had to go to work the next day so I was home alone when I woke up trying to kick my jet lag. I watched the news and for a moment it was like I was still at home. The weatherman said it was the warmest day after Christmas in over 40 years there that day.

Saturday my former boyfriend drove the hour to us women and we all had dinner then I left and spent a day with him. He drove me up to where the other friend lives.

Super late December 2019 all over Michigan and still there was no snow to be seen. Kansas Mars where am I, I thought on some level.