i've seen fire and i've seen rain*

today i had a reconcilliation with a friend i've been out of touch with for several years and i couldn't be happier.

aside from the hubs she is one of my oldest friends. being an army brat i don't have a friend that i've known since elementary school. my best friends came from high school. this friend's nickname is suzone. she and this other girl and i were an inseparable trio from 10th grade on. we had almost every class together and we were best buds. she was the smartest of the three of us. she was an only child, born to her parents much later in life and her mom was actually the one in the army--a colonel and a nurse and her dad was retired from the navy. her life/lifestyle always intrigued me because it was so different from mine. suzone and i kept in touch more so than i did with the other friend. we stayed close through college, though we were often half a country apart. she was my maid of honor in my wedding. we were great, dear friends. she is perhaps one of the most sarcastic people i have ever met in my life and i loved her for that.

several years ago we had a falling out. at the time i didn't really accept that i'd done anything wrong, but i had. i didn't communicate w/ her like i should have. i was going through a horrible time in just about all aspects of life and she was going through an important, special time (getting married) and i wasn't there for her.

after that we didn't talk much. i was hurt and she was hurt. once in a while we would send a christmas card or something, but no meaningful contact for almost a decade. this spring she sent me a post card that she was expecting. i was so happy. i emailed her and we had a brief back and forth. she emailed me, after all these years, on my birthday wishing me a happy birthday and she sent me pictures of her beautiful baby boy. we started emailing again. it was good but today i finally apologized for hurting her all those years ago. i never knew how or when to do it before. i explained myself and she accepted my apology and i think we very well could be on the road to rebuilding our friendship.

i'm in a different place in my life now than i was, obviously, 9-10 years ago. i've grown some, at least i like to think i have. these last two years especially i've changed. maybe realized i wasn't always right in all circumstances. i also have come to realize the importance of good friends and what real friendship is about.

*this song, for a variety of reasons, has always made me think about this particular friend, hence the title.