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Connecting With Old Friends
Why sometimes a shared past helps bridge the present
To begin, I love connecting with people from all kinds of different backgrounds. I love everything from eating new foods to participating in or observing other traditions.
That said, it is also lovely to talk with an old friend, especially someone who went through many of the same experiences as you.
This week I ended up on the train with someone I went to high school with. We were two years apart but had run cross country and track together AND had many shared experiences growing up in the same area.
For the length of the train ride, we communicated in a type of shorthand, using words like 5K, the 100, the walkathon, region 13, and CYO, each understanding the references of the other. Though our paths differed after high school, and we didn’t reconnect for many years, our shared past had given us a language to navigate the present.
Life is funny and beautiful that way.