Old Friends

So I was flying out to San Francisco on Thursday for the Board meeting, and as I'm about to get on the connecting flight through Chicago, Elizabeth Hagan walks up and says hello! For those who don't know, I first met Elizabeth in '96 when we were students together at the SSC summer training program. We served on SSC excom together for three years, I think, and she was the person who put together the original Public Lands Action Summit. Hadn't seen her since 2001, then all of a sudden we get 5 hours together on a flight! I haven't written yet about "changing gears" and the sheer quantity of stress that induces in my life [note to self: write a blog entry about changing gears at some point], but suffice it to say this led to the easiest transition I've had in years.

I got back yesterday night, and after being home for about an hour, Laurel called. Turns out she and Top (yes, her fiance's name is "Top," just go with it) are driving through Philly on Monday night and thus we get to hang out. Laurel, by the way, is one of my all-time favorite people. She's one of those episodic friends (note to self: write a blog entry about episodic friends at some point) who you just know and feel comfortable with implicitly. So now I'm waiting for them to arrive, in fact they just called and are looking for parking! Thus I abruptly end this entry.

Anyway, point is there's this tremendous feeling associated with old great friends suddenly appearing. I think I need to do that more often. Maybe it's associated with getting older, but it seems like forming deep, lasting bonds with new friends talks a prohibitive amount of work. There is, of course, a line from Kicking and Screaming that perfectly enunciates this idea: Otis: "What, he's a friend of mine..."
Max: "What about me? You've got enough friends, a new one is bad for you. You start spreading your affection around and it runs thin, believe me."