Met up with two college friends today, one of whom I hadn’t seen since I think 1995 (we graduated in 1982). This was the second time in a month that my friends from Livingston College have reunited.
The first time, it was my roommate Ron, and friends Shelly, Scott, Tina, Ellen, Grace and Sally.
This time, it was Shelly and Betsy. Betsy’s the one I haven’t seen since the 90s.
Reconnecting with people you knew, and who knew you, when you were pretty much discovering who you were (are?) can be a powerful thing. One of the reasons I disliked the movie, “The Big Chill” was how dismissive it was of that time in one’s life.
A line by the character Nick, played by William Hurt, summarizes that attitude: “Wrong, a long time ago we knew each other for a short period of time; you don’t know anything about me.”
Social media has made it easier to keep in touch with those we’ve known for a short period of time a long time ago, so we can know things about each other. There are those with whom I’ve kept in contact, and whose stories since college I know well and sometimes played a part in. And there are others, such as some of the people I’ve reunited with over the past month, with whom I really haven’t kept in touch.
But I tell you, even though I haven’t seen Betsy since Bill Clinton was president, and some others in last month’s reunion since before that, the connection we forged over four years in college was as strong as ever. I felt totally at ease with her and everyone everyone else I’ve reconnected with over the last month. It was as though we’d just met up in the pub after a long day of classes.
Our bond is strong because we met and decided we liked each other at a time when we really didn’t know who we were. We bonded through shared experiences; classes, parties, relationships. And we still found commonalities with each other as we made our way through the four years of college.
Connections like those are hard to break. And sharing our life experiences since colleges at these random meet-ups just make those connections even stronger.
The power of the past is awesome.