Love picks up where it left off.

My vacation, by pure surreptitious luck, ended up as a sort of throwback vacation for me. I was once again in the drivers’ seat instead of sitting idly by while someone else drove me around. Our rental car came with free satellite radio and consequently our week was soundtracked by “90’s on 9,” featuring many songs my sister and I enjoyed the first time around as teenagers hanging out in my room. We ate Niko’s, visited childhood haunts, toured my alma mater, and hung out with family. We even made a day trip up to Weirs Beach, where we used to vacation as kids.

There were many things I didn’t get to do. Because of the rain, I didn’t get to go on any photo shoots around the city. I didn’t tell half my friends I was in town and, sadly, I didn’t get to visit all of the friends I did plan on visiting (forgive me, Se’lah?). We didn’t tour Fenway or catch a game or dip our toes in the Atlantic. There were many “didn’ts” and “should haves” but there was one thing I did do that fit very nicely into my “throwback” theme. I went for coffee with a very old friend whom I hadn’t seen since high school.

That description seems so small when you consider who Julie was. She was my oldest, dearest and bestest friend for over 15 years. She was at our house more often than not; she called my mom “Mom” and was yelled at by my dad just the same as the rest of us. She went on family vacations and was with me when my high school sweetheart finally kissed me for the first time. She was my sister for so many years and then, for some reason or another, we drifted away at the end of high school.

Looking back, I don’t quite remember how it happened. She was practically working full time by the end of high school, and I had my boyfriend, and we both had other sets of friends we had started hanging out with. Then I moved to college that was simultaneously four exits up the highway and half a lifetime away. We just drifted, I guess. Sadly, that was that.

Then, about a year ago, I found her sister on Facebook while I was undercover with my sister’s sign-in. I emailed Em, gave her my email (and my real identity) and told her I’d love to get back in touch with Julie. We did indeed get back in touch, and my parents told me when they ran in to her at her store, and when she heard I was coming home we decided to meet for coffee.

Let me just tell you right here – I was nervous. What if I didn’t recognize her? What if she had changed? What if she hadn’t changed (but in an oh-my-god do you know you’re an adult now!? sort of way)?

I shouldn’t have worried. We met for over two hours and chattered away a mile a minute the entire time – just like we always used to. It was like we had picked up our conversation just where we had left it the summer after our senior year. Even better, after so much talking, we discovered that despite all of the growing and realizations we’ve both gone through the past few years, we’ve somehow had similar epiphanies despite different journeys. We’re both happy with our lives and with who we are. I am so happy to have rediscovered such a wonderful friendship. Really, it was like coming home.

(And she thought I was kidding when I said I would write a post about how awesome she is. The Katie-Craziness might make sense to her because she grew up with it and watched it take root over the years, but clearly she has forgotten how sneaky and hilarious and wildly honest I am!)

Rekindling our friendship was one of the best parts of my vacation. It felt like another stop of this wild journey of rediscovering myself. Happy Love Thursday, everyone! May you find something today you’ve been looking for, whether or not you realize how much you’ve missed it.

Tags: friendship, nostalgia