An end-of-the-year party

I keep thinking back to an end-of-year, or rather end-of-the-decade, party I went to last Friday. My friend from middle school hosted this party and invited our friend group. While parents hung upstairs to socialize, we were able to hang out in the basement. It was amazing to catch up. 

I learned about the classes my friends are taking, their school newspaper, orchestra, their cross country experiences, and the other people in our grade. They asked me about boarding school and how it differed from my day school experience. We talked about new movies coming out and seamlessly transitioned to watch a funny SNL clip while nibbling on some delicious chocolate mousse.

What takes me by surprise every time I think back to that night is how easy it was to hang out with my old friends. In all honesty, before the party, I feared we wouldn’t get along like we used to since high school took each of us separate ways. Some left the friend group. Some new faces joined. Some left the school. Nonetheless, when we reconvened nothing held us back from socializing. The fluidity of our conversation almost made me question whether we’d ever been apart in the first place. 

Going to this party helped me realize that I always have a place amongst this group of friends regardless of how time has contorted my perception of our friendship. Most importantly, I’ve experienced the power of maintaining friendships and the potency of human connection. One of the difficult things about life is that it’s like a train. We hop off at a stop and we meet people there. However, it appears that once we hop onto the train to discover new adventures, we may never reconnect with those old friends again. 

I believe it requires a conscious effort to go back and find time to meet up with old friends. It’s like hopping onto a train to rendezvous at a new stop. Human connection is by far one of the hardest things to maintain due to the nature of a life’s path, but I’m grateful to be getting practice now. This only makes me wonder how much harder it will be post-college after we all find ourselves in different cities. But maybe that's just the nature of life. Nevertheless, I'm grateful to have been able to catch up with my old friends and to feel as if I belong even through the challenges of time and distance. Thank you.