We've all had those experiences. You see someone that you haven't seen in a while. Or maybe it's a kid that you used to babysit and you bump into them at the mall only to realize, they aren't so much of a kid anymore. Well, over the past couple weeks I feel like my days have been overrun with these moments.
It started in Edmonton with a quick bite for lunch with my old neighbour Matt. Before I go any further I should let you know that when I say old neighbour, I mean it. Matt and his family - younger brother Alex, and mom and dad Beth and Joe - moved from Winnipeg to St Albert, Alberta back in the late 90s. Yet, we've managed to keep in touch. In the last twenty-or-so years I've maybe seen Matt and his family three times. Yet that doesn't seem to change anything. Whether it's a matter of months, or years, or even coming up on a decade since the last time we saw each other - nothing seems to change. We can sit down and reminisce about the times we put on WWF (as it was called back then) wrestling matches in the basement of my house. And even though it was the three boys - Matt, Alex, and my brother, I was always in there like a dirty shirt.
It wasn't long into our lunch that we started talking about the last time I was in Edmonton. That was eight years ago for his wedding. Now he has a son that's six years old whom I still haven't met. SIX?! When did that happen? I swear it was just last weekend we were standing outside of the reception, lighting sparklers and waving them around in the night celebrating the wedding.
The phenomenon of time "moving still" seemed to continue when a few nights later I met up with the rest of Matt's family for dinner. Again, even though it has been twenty years or so since they lived in Winnipeg, I will forever be the little blonde girl that lived next door that would come and knock on the door asking to play in the play room - and would be just as content, if not more so, if the kids that actually belonged to the house weren't home to join me.
Skip forward a few nights and I find myself in Camrose, Alberta. Staying with a family that I have known for years through softball. They're like a second family. And they just so happen to have the most special person in the world belong to their family. Mason will, forever, be the little four year old rascal running around the ball diamond, collecting foul balls and bringing them back to the umpire for nickels in Sioux Falls, SD. He'll always be the little munchkin that called every girl on the team his girlfriend. The one who often invited us all back to his room for a team movie night after a long day at he ball park. The guy who loved Scooby Doo and Dukes of Hazard. That will always be Mason. Yet, somehow, when none of us were looking, Mason turned 19. Who let that happen?
Fast forward another couple nights and you might find yourself in a jam after the person you were supposed to stay with in Calgary bails on you. Some might see that as an opportunity to sleep in their car and throw in the towel. Then there are also some people that you haven't seen in almost five years that might take you in, no questions asked, make you feel right at home, and sit around the table at 10:30 p.m. catching up on everything over ice cream cake. And it's like just yesterday you were carpooling out to Lethbridge, Alberta for softball Western Championships.
If you haven't guessed, what I am getting at here is that some people never change - even though they literally change. Time moves forward yet it seems to stand still. Whether it has been weeks, months, years, or even close to a decade. The awesome people of this world, the special ones that leave a lasting impression will drop everything to help out a friend or stay out late when they have a full day of work ahead just to catch up with an old friend. When you're special, some things never change.
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