After All These Years

“We are sun and moon, dear friend; we are sea and land. It is not our purpose to become each other; it is to recognize each other, to learn to see the other and honor him for what he is: each the other’s opposite and complement.”
― Hermann Hesse, Narcissus and Goldmund

Almost a  quarter of a century ago, I met a girl at a lunch table at my new school.  She was goofy and weird and said strange things all the time.  I immediately loved her. We spent our formative years inseparable and after all these years later, there is nothing like getting to spend some time with her, and her weirdness. Our lives have gone in complete different directions. We stood by one another as we married and moved on. She is surrounded by a brood of men, and I have my two. But when we are together…it’s like not a second has passed. I have often wondered what her daily life is like, and now I know. I got to be part of it for just a minute. And even though it’s crazy, it’s wonderful.

I got to visit my favorite part of the country. She lives in a little town, Silverton Oregon. A quaint little “Mayberry” town. It’s surrounded by wilderness, waterfalls, fruit fields, hazelnut orchards, Christmas tree farms and just about anything you can think of to grow. We spent our days wandering around, which is something I love to do (until I get car sick anyway!) I got to see a Dahlia farm, which is something I’ve always wanted to do and also a covered bridge, which I didn’t even know existed on that side of the country. This was my first day. Squeezed in between football practices and wild children, whom I grew to adore in a just the few days I was there.