A Little Sunshine

Amidst my shades of gray I had one really great thing happen today. I got to see a woman with whom I haven't had contact in more than 25 years. We met to talk and catch up, and it was wonderful. It was more than wonderful. She is a wonderful person, genuinely nice and caring. I wish I'd gotten to know her better when we were kids as I think she could have been a very good friend to me back then. However, we really didn't know each other very well back then, and I wasn't outgoing enough to try to pursue friendships with those I didn't know well.

She has more ongoing connections with the town where we grew up so she updated me on a lot of people. I found out about those that had died, those that are gay (the boy I had a huge crush on in second grade!), the guy who lives in his parents' basement and has basically become a hermit, those classmates that are still in town and those that have moved far away, and just all the general gossip of the community. Unfortunately, she also lives on the far coast so we won't have the opportunity to get together often. However, I have no doubt that we will stay in touch via emails and phone calls from now on.

It was a four and a half hour chat we had tonight, much longer than either of us expected. We ended only when the establishment at which we met closed down for the night. Until then, we had no idea we'd talked that long.