Growth

My marathon of exciting events and first world problems is continuing and going quite well. Presently a dear friend is in town from Asheville, North Carolina. We met when we were both travel nurses here in Seattle five long years ago. We worked together for the summer, each went our separate ways and then both ended up back at the same hospital near the start of the next year -where we both stayed for a year. She has since moved home to NC, traded the ER for case management, and had a baby who is now three. I went out to visit her there three years ago when Kannon was three months old. We also met up in New Orleans for Mardi Gras two years ago. I've really been looking forward to her coming back to Seattle, and I've thoroughly enjoyed having her here.

It is odd though how different we are. Today as we were getting ready to go to Alki and do some sightseeing as tourists in the place where we both live(d) I was lounging on my couch in khakis and a peasant blouse waiting for her to finish getting ready for the day. She said to me, "I'm just not used to this Toni that doesn't have to get all glossed up before we go out!"  I was a bit taken aback at first. I mean, my hair was done, my makeup was done, I was wearing cute but casual clothes --what was she talking about? And then I realized, yeah, this is not the way it would have rolled five years ago. I shrugged it off, smiled, and continued flipping through stuff on my iPad. I related the happening to a coworker tonight who was around back in the day when Serena and I first came to Seattle. Before I could even finish the story, she said, "Oh my gosh, you're a completely different person!" And that was the nail on the head. I really am! I was 25 when we used to go out all the time. I'm a very different person now than I was when I was 25. Wow. The things I've gone through, lived through, seen, on and on!  It was really remarkable to think back at how starkly different the person that she was used to and expecting was. And that's what true friendships are about. We haven't seen each other for over two years, and each of our lives and selves are vastly different than when we lived so close, but despite the changes the friendship remains. And that is a beautiful thing.

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