and the other, gold

A brief note on the nature of longevity-

Some things do not last. My senior year of college, inspired by my friend Gloria, I bought myself a leopard-print umbrella. Yesterday, it finally gave up the ghost. It stays open, but it doesn’t stay UP. As I’m walking, it gradually sinks until I have an umbrella on my head. I figure it’s paid its dues.

Some things do last. My freshman year, I almost dated this guy named Kris. For several stupid reasons, (namely that we were a couple of scared kids), it never happened. About a week ago, I started thinking about him again. I realized I missed him - and so I emailed St. Olaf to try to find his contact information. We hadn’t spoken since graduation - but last night when he called me, it was like not a day had passed. There was none of that initial awkwardness that often happens when you haven’t talked to someone in a long time. I was able to be more frank with him, even after all this time, than I am with most of the people I deal with on a daily basis. And the best part of it was that we’ve both grown up a lot. We could never talk like this back then, because we freaked each other out. Four and a half hours later, when I finally fell asleep, I was happier than I’d been in a long time. It’s always so nice to (re)discover that there’s another person out there with whom you can actually be yourself.

(Thanks.)