Another "blast from the past"

I spent the afternoon with Teresa, my best friend from middle school and early high school today. It was fun, if a bit kvetch-filled. We didn't run out of what to say or anything. It was a quiet time- we mostly just hung out and talked. I heard the usual sorts of stuff about her school, boyfriend, and pep band, and probably shared similar stuff, if a bit less of it. In such contexts, I tend to talk less than I listen. Overall- not too eventful.

However- it fits into this pattern of seeing people who were influential in my life at one point or another in the past (some continuing). I've done more of that this break than usual: Teresa, Katie, Will of course, Qian (pretty close to an of course, except for her peripatetic visiting patterns) [I like that word: peripatetic. It's almost onomatopoeaic.], saw Matt M's mother... That leaves Matt himself, and Greg (whom I'm still not sure if I'd want to see/feel ready to see), and I'd say that that's it. The other folks who might have made that list- well, one's dead, and the others didn't, I think, have quite that level of impact. Perhaps because I didn't have the level of either close friendship or adulation that I had at one point for these folks. Strange to think of things that way (the adulation), that clearly. It wasn't how I thought of things then, certainly. I do hope that I've ceased doing that, or at least decreased the intensity of it, since then. I think I have- at least, most of the real idolizing relationships from that list are from the earlier part of high school.

Has odd familial interactions this evening: a discussion of New Years plans. I think we are going to be going to the marathon at Tamar's session, in New Jersey. But well- besides Em, everyone had their own reservations. Mom's worried abotu the driving, Dad thinks he'll be bored for the last few hours, I tend to worry about doing ok with the New York crowd, although I'm told Tamar's crowd is on the nicer side. Em just insists that she'll go, no matter what we do. It was awkward, and I was a bit resentful. It did garner a wonderful piece of advice from Mom though: "It's ok to feel murderous rage, just not to murder." This was followed, later on by the explanation that this is why we're not Catholic... But the situation was rather unbalanced, in some ways- and we realized that. But later on we all danced in the living room together for a while, and I taught the parents Suerte, and it was pretty nice: usually there's someone feeling resentful when we all dance together at home, and I really don't think that there was, this time. It was very reassuring (my latest catch-phrase, I'm afraid, to match "such is life" "life goes on" "no worries" and "go figure". ARgh.).

Another "blast from the past"

I spent the afternoon with Teresa, my best friend from middle school and early high school today. It was fun, if a bit kvetch-filled. We didn't run out of what to say or anything. It was a quiet time- we mostly just hung out and talked. I heard the usual sorts of stuff about her school, boyfriend, and pep band, and probably shared similar stuff, if a bit less of it. In such contexts, I tend to talk less than I listen. Overall- not too eventful.

However- it fits into this pattern of seeing people who were influential in my life at one point or another in the past (some continuing). I've done more of that this break than usual: Teresa, Katie, Will of course, Qian (pretty close to an of course, except for her peripatetic visiting patterns) [I like that word: peripatetic. It's almost onomatopoeaic.], saw Matt M's mother... That leaves Matt himself, and Greg (whom I'm still not sure if I'd want to see/feel ready to see), and I'd say that that's it. The other folks who might have made that list- well, one's dead, and the others didn't, I think, have quite that level of impact. Perhaps because I didn't have the level of either close friendship or adulation that I had at one point for these folks. Strange to think of things that way (the adulation), that clearly. It wasn't how I thought of things then, certainly. I do hope that I've ceased doing that, or at least decreased the intensity of it, since then. I think I have- at least, most of the real idolizing relationships from that list are from the earlier part of high school.

Has odd familial interactions this evening: a discussion of New Years plans. I think we are going to be going to the marathon at Tamar's session, in New Jersey. But well- besides Em, everyone had their own reservations. Mom's worried abotu the driving, Dad thinks he'll be bored for the last few hours, I tend to worry about doing ok with the New York crowd, although I'm told Tamar's crowd is on the nicer side. Em just insists that she'll go, no matter what we do. It was awkward, and I was a bit resentful. It did garner a wonderful piece of advice from Mom though: "It's ok to feel murderous rage, just not to murder." This was followed, later on by the explanation that this is why we're not Catholic... But the situation was rather unbalanced, in some ways- and we realized that. But later on we all danced in the living room together for a while, and I taught the parents Suerte, and it was pretty nice: usually there's someone feeling resentful when we all dance together at home, and I really don't think that there was, this time. It was very reassuring (my latest catch-phrase, I'm afraid, to match "such is life" "life goes on" "no worries" and "go figure". ARgh.).