just like the good ol' days...

when i moved away to ottawa, the first thing i worried about was how i'd keep ties tight with my comfort zone back home... how i'd manage to keep my life in tact for those holiday trips to the ol' stomping ground... and how i'd manage to keep the sense and sensibility of easy, breezy high school from fading with my university cynicism...

i made lots of phone calls... kept my email contact list in nearly pristine condition... i always asked who still saw who... i even sacrificed any sort of rest and relaxation time during those sporadic visits to the homestead in favour of running around for coffees, drinks, shopping, clubbing, etc. with the breathing versions of my favourite youth/yearbook memories... sure, i lost a few in the cracks and i'd be lying if i didn't say it plagues me to know what makes them tick now...

but coming back was always special... always fun-filled... always reminiscent...

some of my friends are astonished at how many random people from the past i keep in my rolodex... my reasoning: it just feels good to keep in touch with a wealth of people... it connects dots all the time and often leads you back to forgotten favourites and sometimes -- though therapeutic -- to painful pasts... sure, people change, but i constantly have hope that commonalities still linger...

last night was an over due night out with some of the girls for some improv, party-hopping and rekindling of familiar faces... it felt good to bring lost souls back together, even if for only an hour or so of recalling days gone by... to top it off, this afternoon i spent sitting on the dock of the lake with someone that knows me inside out; spending hours inadvertently hashing and rehashing what keeps our union alive...

photos are one thing; but the real deal of keeping those people close to you to talk, laugh, cry and reminisce with -- that's an amazingly satisfying other thing... all it takes is a little effort... and i promise, it's worth all the energy you could muster...