Old friends

Three years.  Unbelievably, it’s been over three years now since I came home from Africa.  My time there changed my entire world perspective and I’m so grateful for the opportunity I had to study in Durban.

While I was there I was fortunate enough to be introduced to new cultures, crazy experiences, and some amazing friends.  These people, as much as Africa itself, had a profound effect on my life, and one of the hardest parts about coming home was knowing that I would no longer see them every day. 

As it goes, I lost touch with most people and have only had a few updates on some over the years.  Then just a couple weeks ago, completely out of the blue, I was lucky enough to get back Cristi.  Cristi, who is one of the few people in the whole world who could understand why baboons, ‘white immigration forms’, Audrey Nene, Al Gore and Lesotho are all hilarious.

Today when I came home from work and flipped through the mail, between ads for Chinese food and gyms, was a thick envelope from New York, and suddenly those three years just dissolved.  Cristi and I used to spend our class time writing notes to each other that regularly became full on letters.  (Don’t worry – we were already experts on these subjects and on pass/fail deals with our home universities.)  In five pages of writing (with the ‘American accent’ and all) I got my best friend back.

Cristi: recognize some of those books??  Sadly, the road atlas is a little worse for wear, and that’s my second copy of Mandela’s book (full explanations coming to a mailbox near you!), but I always keep all of these front and centre on my bookshelf and remember the amazing experiences we had.  

In the years since I returned from Africa I’ve become much better at keeping in close contact with friends while on opposite sides of the pond.  For most of that time either I’ve been away, or a close friend has, and it appears that this trend will be continuing for quite some time.  I learned how important it is to make that effort and keep those friends close to your heart, even when they’re so far away.  Even though it can be difficult, it’s been well worth it.

This letter today, though, is a reminder that with the really special people, sometimes it doesn’t matter how much time goes by.  That friendship is still out there somewhere, just waiting to be found again.  Cristi, the envelope’s going straight in to ‘Long Walk to Freedom’.  Thank you so much for finding me again!

Recognize that picture behind the letter?  Yup, framed in my apartment.  🙂