Ever have a friend seemingly just drop off the face of the earth? I mean, you know they are alive (at least… I think…) - but they’re just gone… poof! Like disappearing from your life was exactly what they meant to do - because they left you with absolutely zero traces of where you might find them.
I have a friend like that. It’s been about a year since we spoke, and granted - there were different forces in each of our lives that kept us apart, and kept us from staying on closer contact - - but it was once of those friendships that has lasted years - - a decade or more. No matter when, how or why we haven’t been in touch - - we always were there for one another when we were able to get in contact, and it was always like we never spent any time apart at all, we just picked up exactly where we left off.
Throughout the years, I have always been there for this friend, and vice versa. No matter what was going on in our lives . . . we’d both just drop everything and just… be there, ya know?
We’ve been through a LOT together… more than most normal friendships. But never once was one not there for the other one, even under the most dire circumstances.
Last night, I needed to get in touch with this person. But… any phone numbers, pager numbers, emails and other contact information I have for this person are all invalid. Non-existent. It’s like this person never existed.
I know where they live. My next step, I guess, would be to just drop by when I’m in the area. Somehow, I have this strange feeling they don’t live there anymore.
Strange? Makes a person wonder what they did? Maybe I did most of the taking and less of the giving in recent years? Maybe I offended this person in some way? Maybe our history together just couldn’t overcome hurdles placed in the way at various points of our tumultuous friendship?
Maybe I just imagined the whole thing… dream sequences being all the rage, and such.
4:31 pm on February 16th, 2006
I know exactly what you mean. Precious memories shared between two people and then POOF, they fall of the radar. It does make you question the importance of the friendship in their mind, or if you placed too much importance on it. In the end, it’s the experience that matters, and what you take from it.
Too bad Google can’t locate everyone, huh?
Great blog. Found you on Rachel’s blogroll. Come see me sometime for insanity in word form.
12:27 am on February 25th, 2006
[...] My long lost friend has been found. I can remove his picture off all the milk cartons now, and call off the National Guard. He has sufficiently apologized for dropping out of life - - but I still say he owes me a decent cup of coffee to fully make up for it. Not coffee at my mother’s kitchen table either - nope. We’re talking the good stuff. See, he just happened to send me an email after I posted that little post about him. Coincidence? I think not. Seems he read it and his guilty conscience got the best of him. [...]