New, old friend.

Over a year ago I got an email from Classmates.com saying I could send one person an email for free. I had registered with the site six or seven years ago but have never used it. Unlike Facebook and My Space, Classmates makes you pay to see people's profiles or to contact them. I honestly don't know how they've managed to stay in business. I digress...I sent the free email to my friend Erica, whom I haven't spoken to in about twelve years. As soon as I hit send a message popped up saying that if Erica joined Classmates (as in paid money) she would be able to read my message. Sneaky, sneaky, sneaky Classmates.com....I felt a little like a heal and was pretty sure that I'd never hear back from her.

A few weeks ago I got an email titled "Is this really you?" from "Chris C****". I almost deleted it, assuming it was spam. It wasn't. It was Erica. Since then, we've exchanged long emails and talked on the phone one Friday afternoon for about two hours. I learned that she was a nurse, lived in Florida, is married and has two little boys. One a bit older than Sam and one a little younger, and that she’s 13 weeks pregnant. This weekend she was visiting her mom in Connecticut. I drove down for the day and spent the afternoon with her family and a lot of old friends from high school that I haven’t seen in almost sixteen years (How is it possible that I have been out of high school for almost 16 years?). It was great.

Erica and I were inseparable, best friends my freshman, sophomore and junior year but not very close by the time we graduated. I honestly can't remember exactly what happened to change our friendship and I don't think it matters anymore. As I sat in her mom’s kitchen, all of the good memories came back and it felt like yesterday.

It took me three hours to drive home in the snow. Grace woke up as I was getting off the MASS Pike and didn't go back to bed until after 11 last night...but it was worth it. I'm so glad I went. I'm so glad I have a new, old friend.