Everyone I know has beautiful memories of their childhood. Ask them about one time in their lives that they would want to relive –it’s not going to be passionate moments with their lover; or the time they made a lot of money; or a period of great academic excellence –they would trade anything to be able to go back to being a kid again!
I on the other hand, have always been apprehensive about my childhood catching up with me. I could only feel a sense of irritation when some classmate or the other invariably tracked me down on Facebook.
You see, my life hadn’t been all beautiful and carefree as a kid, like theirs. I was sickly, weird, insecure and preferred to go on adventures with The Famous Five rather than hang out with ‘friends’.
So it was with some trepidation that I finally set forth to meet my schoolmates Deepu and Jaya, on my last visit back to my hometown. We hadn’t seen each other since school, almost two decades ago.
As you can imagine, I had somehow gotten trapped into this.
But as soon as I set my eyes on my buddies (strange that I already thought of them as buddies not classmates) I felt all warm and fuzzy. From being a curly haired tomboy, Deepu had transformed into a lady, and Jaya looked a tiny schoolkid still. There wasn’t a moment of awkwardness — it was as if the intervening 20 years melted away in an instant!
As the minutes passed, I was surprised at how accepted I felt, just the way I was! The other revelation was that I wasn’t the only weirdo either!
There wasn’t anything worth discussing under the sun that we discussed. We giggled together at the batty Miss Guptabhaya (who famously declared once, ‘I love you with all my breasts!’); the absent-minded Sir George; and sometimes at nothing in particular. Before I knew it, hours had flown by!
As I walked back home, I realized I’d been more ‘myself’ with them than with anyone else in a long time.
Since then, I’ve bravely met more long lost friends and acquaintances. Now my eyes light up whenever I hear the words – ‘Hey! Been a while… wanna catch up?’
This post is the third in a series of 26 posts that I am writing throughout the month of April as part of the A to Z challenge 2016.
durbadhyani 
The people who hosts the A to Z Challenge suggests always having very short posts during the month of April because with so many blogs to follow people don’t have the time to linger to read longer posts.
In YOUR case, I think our lovely hosts are wrong. When I read your posts, I feel like I’ve just stopped by a new friends home for a moment to “catch up” with what’s going on in her world. Thank you for such a relaxing and interesting post!
Take care,
Donna L Martin
http://www.donnalmartin.com
http://www.kickskidsclub.blogspot.com
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Dear Donna, reading your comment I get a warm fuzzy feeling all over again 🙂 Thank you so much for your generosity.
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Agree with every word! Caught up with a few myself over the last 2-3 years, and nothing like getting together with school friends and reliving one’s childhood again.
Thanks for the visit to my blog.
Best of luck with the challenge,
Nilanjana
Madly-in-Verse
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It feels great to see a comment from someone I’ve begun to hold in high esteem as writer and poet! Thank you for this visit Nilanjana.
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If I had to go back and do it again, I have the time period all picked out and what differences I would make the second time around. Then I thought, what if this isn’t the first time around and THIS is the way I decided to redo. My childhood is one period I wouldn’t change, although I was also weird, it’s the part where I start to leave childhood and going into college. I’m getting carried away 😀 Enjoyed your post. I have never met old school mates like that. Finding Eliza
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Kristin, what a thought! That this may not be the first time round and this is how we would redo it! That idea is going to stay with me awhile…
One reason you haven’t met old school mates that way could be because you’re too young still 🙂
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True, eh? I have friends that I only see once a year… if I’m lucky, but every time we meet is as if no time had passed. It’s a very nice sensation 🙂
@JazzFeathers
The Old Shelter – Jazz Age Jazz
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Yes and you and I are very lucky about that, Sarah Zama 🙂
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I know what you mean as I am often so nervous before meeting former friends and acquaintances but then as soon as they step through the door the years disappear and we are picking up where we left off many years ago!
Pempi
A Stormy’s Sidekick
Special Teaching at Pempi’s Palace
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Yes, exactly Pempi! I feel wonderful to discover so many new blogger friends too, everyday of this A to Z challenge!
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So lovely that you discovered how awesome your old friends are. 🙂
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Thank you Sheena. I feel blessed about that 🙂
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Sounds wonderful. I didn’t catch up with an old school friend recently, but with her mother 🙂 We met at a funeral. So I am caught up on what the friend is doing at least :).
Tasha
Tasha’s Thinkings | Wittegen Press | FB3X (AC)
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Thank you for sharing your thoughts Tasha! I will ‘catch up’ with your blog now 🙂
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It’s the same when I met my old mates back in England after 10 years. As though that space of time hadn’t existed!
Open Minded Mormon A-Z
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Glad it was the same for you Duncan 🙂
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Definitely look forward to our “Catching up ” soon .
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haha…absolutely!
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What a great post! I can relate. I’ve been back to my home town twice in the last two years and my classmates organised a reunion. It was amazing to see the same ‘children’ in the faces of those grown-up men and women. They were the same and world apart at the same time. Great that you overcome your fears and met up with your buddies. 🙂
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yes, glad I did 🙂
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