I had lunch today with a friend I have known for close to 50 of my 62 years. We grew up in Iowa. We didn’t see each other for almost 30 years, and then, when the electronic age caught up with us, we found each other on Classmates.com. She lives not that far from me. I’m in Connecticut, she is up in the Adirondack mountains in upstate New York. So, when my son had a hockey game scheduled just outside of Albany, she met me there, with her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend, and we talked through my son’s game, and then had lunch together. That was 8 years ago.

Since then we have kept in touch. We are Facebook friends now, and find that the easiest way to keep in touch. I was able to share with her the exitement of her daughter’s wedding, and the birth of her first grandchild. She stuck with me through a painful, and contentious divorce.

What is so remarkable to me, is that she, and the rest of our high school bunch, have reconnected after all these years. I was married for a long time, (32 years), to a man who tried to isolate me from those who cared about me, and was successful to a great degree for a long time. It is a common trait of someone who is controlling, and abusive. I lived all those years, with really no mention of my past, my life prior to meeting my ex. I am not bitter about it, I only mention it so you, my readers, can understand why it is so remarkable to me, that we have reconnected. ALL of us. Karen, Dian, Cathy, Pat, and me……and we didn’t even skip a beat. We picked up where we dropped off years ago, except now we all had a lifetime of stories to tell.

After finding Karen, I didn’t find anyone else. But as I waited for the Supreme Court decision on the financial settlement which was awarded to me by the judge in my 3 day divorce trial, 4 years after I finally reclaimed my life, and left my ex, Cathy found me on FB. She somehow remembered my married name. And when she found me, I found everyone else. I was ecstatic. It was just such a wonderful gift, to get my oldest friends back in my life, after so many years, and that they came then, while I was waiting, waiting for the decision that would allow my life to go forward. A gift from the universe, a perfect happy distraction from the limbo I was living in.

Today, when my friend Karen and her wonderful husband left my house, I knew we would see each other again, and not so far into the future. This past winter I managed to get together with Dian, Cathy and Pat, all of us together, and it was a blast. Karen couldn’t make that one, it was very impromptu. I know I will see them all again, and again.

But when Karen drove away, I cleaned up the kitchen, then sat down in my family room with my son. And promptly fell asleep. I didn’t even think I was tired. And I wasn’t. I was at peace, I was relaxed, I was content. I have not felt that for a very long time.

There is something so comforting, so completing, about sitting down with friends who has known you your whole life. Karen and I, and Dian, Cathy, and Pat, have all known each other since we were pubescent teenagers, and we know who we are, at the center. We know each others secrets, we know each others pain. They way you do, when you are growing up and just live it with your friends. We’ve all moved, and had lovers and/or husbands, and kids, but we still know who we are at the center.

One of my best friends here in CT, who has been my friend since our now 21 yr old sons were in kindergarten together, grew up here, and her best friend, next door neighbor when she grew up, still lives in town. I have been happily envious of them, because they have had what I had with my buddies.

So….I went to sleep. My life is completed, I have the past, and I have the present, and I know we have the future. We already have tentative plans for everyone to meet at my house next summer. And the summer after, Karen and I may drive out to Iowa for our 45^th class reunion. How fun would that be???

Life is good. The Universe will bring you what you need, and sometimes you have to ask, and in this case, for me, it just knew. It just gave them back to me. I feel like it was a reward, for successfully picking my way through the very difficult minefield of divorce and custody with an emotionally and verbally abusive husband.

Old friends….Thank you for today Karen. And thank you Dian, Cathy, and Pat for last winter. May there be many more to come.