My friend Bill visited from Toronto this week and I skipped blogging.
Our parents were college friends and I’ve known him since birth. He and his sister are the only lifelong friends I have. I have no idea about the lives of anyone in Toronto after I left at age 10 (with the exception of a renewed casual connection through facebook with a “girlfriend” when we were both 8 years old). I may have mentioned before that the day after high school ended (the second one I attended) I left home and never looked back. At 21 I left Canada, shedding almost every connection again. My life up to the point of moving here was a series of goodbyes.
On the other hand, my brothers are still connected to grade school friends. My sister, too, has stayed connected to her past. I have other friends who are raising their kids alongside their childhood friends. I moved around so much and never learned how to stay in touch - maybe on purpose.
I wonder with the boys having lived their lives in this corner of America if they will lay down lifelong roots or wander off when their time comes. Both of our kids are here for keeps but neither of them have any connection to the past before coming here. I don’t know if it takes a certain kind of personality or if it’s circumstance that makes this happen. If all my sibs but me managed to keep their ties, I guess it’s something in me that couldn’t manage it.
My mom has been friends with Bill’s mom for 60 years. They love each other and bicker and share and have lived good lives in and out of each other’s company all that time. I think it’s a good thing and I hope that our boys make connections that carry them through life, no matter where in the world they may travel to.