There’s nothing like easing into a conversation with an old friend and soon after feeling like you’ve picked up exactly where you left off.  No matter how much time or distance has grown between you.   So much of the background information in each story goes unsaid  – no need to explain your parents’ relationship, where you fall among your siblings, the gory details of past relationships, your personality quirks or any of the other stuff that makes you who you are.   These things are left unsaid either because the listener already knows them all, or it doesn’t matter:  she knows you well enough to make those things extraneous details.  Your friendship has lived long enough in time and space that you always feel kind of sad when leaving each other, and know you could talk for hours, days, or even a lifetime and still have new things to share and laugh about.

I am grateful for all the Wauwatosa friends who are still part of my life.  What a blessing to have friends who’ve known me for more than half of my lifetime.