Old Friends

I had the chance to see an old friend last week - one that I hadn't seen in at least 13 years. Chris's quintet had a concert at a small university in central Arkansas in the same town where my friend Debbie lives. As soon as I found out about the concert, I started making plans to go with Chris so that I could see Debbie. We had a great time talking and laughing and catching up with one another.

Debbie and I met at library school at UCA in 1992, and we immediately became fast friends. We couldn't believe it had been 13 years since we had seen each other; it felt more like just a few months. We picked up right where we left off and we talked and talked for a couple of hours. Her sweet husband hung in there with us most of the night. We talked about our schools and our libraries and about our families and our grandchildren.

It's amazing how our lives have taken almost parallel paths. We're both school librarians, and we're both finishing our administration certification. There are pages on her library website that are almost mirror images of some of my pages. She has more grandchildren than I do, but we both enjoy the wonder of havinging those little ones in our lives.

I hope it's not another 13 years before we see each other again. We had a great visit which left me wishing we lived closer. Chris and I didn't get home until 2:30 that night, but it was certainly worth it.