Saturday, April 5, 2008

Giving Thanks for Email and NASCAR

Today, I had the wonderful opportunity to catch up with my friend Sidonie. We met in our freshman college English class and quickly bonded after learning that one of my good friends growing up was her friend during high school. I remember that though she was small in stature, her mind intimidated me. We were kindred spirits in our pursuit of academics and in our obsessive compulsive tendencies.

After our first year, she transferred to a mega-school because our small private liberal arts college didn't offer her major, architecture. I have no doubt that she finished at the top of her class and that she blew many curves. She's simply that smart.

And she's smart-witted, as well. During the years following her transfer to the whooping school, we kept in touch, and she kept me laughing. At first by snail mail and then by email, once that became common. We shared about breakups, new jobs, her wedding, more school for both of us, her husband's deployments, and all the major newsworthy events in our lives. So it seems odd that we allowed fourteen years to pass without seeing each other in person.

But this weekend, she came up from Houston for the big NASCAR race (which she fully admits is an odd past-time for her as an architect) and made the time to see me as well. We had lunch together, and it was as if no time had passed. I caught her using phrases that I use all the time; it was as if we lived next door to one another and talked frequently.

So I give thanks for email, which keeps friends in touch throughout the years, and for NASCAR, which brought my sweet friend Sidonie to my area for a quick visit and will hopefully bring her back many more times in the future.

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