Long Lost Friends
Friends,
Last month I wrote again about senseless gun violence and the tragic heartbreak it leaves behind.
Hearing about the mass shooting in Highland Park touched me on a personal level in two ways. First, I lived there for nearly a year, from 1999-2000. Second, I had a dear friend from college, Geoff, who grew up there.
Geoff and I met in our freshman year at the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. We shared a circle of mutual friends. By our junior year, that circle of friends was smaller, a handful of us hanging out nightly at the same apartment and supporting each other by going to each other’s shows. Geoff’s major was Film, and mine was Theatre.
However, it wasn’t until post-college, when many of our circle had moved home or to other cities, that Geoff and I became close friends.
We both were pursuing our art and other passions, testing out different interests and careers.
He loved to bake bread, and I loved to eat it. We were kindred spirits. In a “Friends” analogy, he was the Ross, and I was Phoebe.
The last time I saw Geoff was in 2004 when he visited me in Sag Harbor. After that, life happened to both of us, and our paths diverged.
After the Highland Park shooting, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Hoping his relatives were okay and wondering where life had taken him.
Thanks to technology and betting that he still would have the same number I had stored in my phone for over 20 years, I reached out via text.
He called me straight away.
Two weeks later, Geoff was pulling into my driveway, coming to visit me and spend time on the farm for a few days.
It was magical. It evoked the feeling of someone stepping out of your past and coming to witness your present life. I mean, this man knew me when I had my first dog, Camille!
He met my 17-year-old daughter for the first time. He knew all the crazy stories about me, bartending in the East Village and dating drummers. He got to share them with Eric and Karma.
Eric taught him how to use a chainsaw and cut down trees! He roasted us coffee and, yes, baked me bread. I taught him yoga.
Our hearts were so full. Grateful for the reconnection. Thankful that I reached out, grateful that my dear friend and his family were safe and so pleased that our contact quickly rekindled and awakened such a caring and loving friendship. Amazingly, with true friends, you pick up where you left off.
Now we are planning another visit for the Fall.
Maybe this week, you feel inspired to reach out to someone you haven’t seen or spoken to in a very long time.
I bet you will make their day.
With so much love,
Kari