Last Sunday, when Miss Teen was here, we popped to our local farm shop to get some sliced meat for an improptu "roast dinner".
We got back in the car, masks off, and I pulled out of my space. As I drove forward, m best friend, who I haven't seen in person in a year because of Covid, walked across in front of my car! She waved. I waved and I stopped the car (apologies to the poor woman in the car behind me), leapt out and ran to see her. We hugged and said we'd meet up in the week for a catch up.
I got back in the car and, to the consternation of Miss Teen, I burst into tears.
I tried to explain to MissT that I wasn't upset, I was just suffering from an overflow of emotion. She wanted to understand more, so I said I'd try and explain when we got home (because trying to work out how to explain it was just resulting in more overflows).
We got home, and I did my best to explain. I can't explain it all here in this blog post, because this led to quite an involved discussion about the nature of different types of friendships, but I will share one the crucial bits:
My best friend lives 'just around the corner' from me. I haven't needed to see her in person during the last year because I know she's just around the corner. Knowing that she is there, that we could see each other if we needed to, has been enough. I've known that when I do see her, we'll pick up as if there had been no year's gap.
If I had lived further away, it would have been much harder.
However, seeing her so unexpectedly, and then actually seeing her close enough to hug her and talk to her, made the long year of not seeing her seem endless, and I missed her so much, and I wanted to see her properly and talk and laugh and do all the normal things that you can't do by messenger. I had so much that I wanted to share with her, that it hadn't been possible to share by Instant Message, and she had a lot that she had wanted to share with me.
And because I was feeling that way, and crying, all the other things from the last 18 months all came rushing up as well, and it created a tidal wave of emotion that I just couldn't control... and it came out as tears.
My best friend and I (and our husbands) did meet up a few evenings ago, and it was lovely. Normal. Both pairs had had a lot of stuff going on, and it was cathartic to be able to share and to have it shared.
They really do have a plateful at the moment, and I'm hoping we'll be able to arrange another catchup soon.
