Nothing Like Old Friends

So -- on Facebook I've caught up with one of my favorite theatre buddies from Pepperdine -- he was Fagin when we did Oliver, he was in the light booth for Quilters, and we went to Edinburgh for the Festival one summer, putting on a modern adaptation of the old morality play "Everyman" with music... weird and special -- very very funny guy whom I'll call "T" and shortly after we were friends on Facebook, another mutual friend ("S") asked me about another guy -- who played Bill Sykes in Oliver, was an absolutely unspeakably amazing King in 'The Lion in Winter' -- seriously amazing amazing... and fabulous voice too... and he also went to Edinburgh -- then after graduation from Pep went to France and become a Priest... we'll call him "D".

*sigh* we all had little crushes on "D."

Anyhoo -- "S" writes me a message on Facebook that do I know what happened to "D" -- if anyone would know, *I* would... and it just happens that in June there was a 20-year reunion of Pepperdine Year-In-Europe folks -- which I chickened out from going, despite being in Southern California (planned my trip around the reunion but didn't go... another post). The organizers (not an official Pepperdine planned gathering, for sure) had an amazing list of email addresses and were awesome in that they let everyone see everyone else... it happens that "D" went to Florence, and while he wasn't at the reunion (still living in France), he did do an update page and there were current pictures and an address.

So yeah, I had the email and the address... so I put "T" in touch with "D" and gave the info to "S" because she was "Baby Doe" when "S" & "D" did that opera with "D" as the husband. I was originally cast as the not-very-sympathetic wife, but ended up dropping out because it was one too many things going on that semester -- one of them being Quilters.

I love getting people together... especially people who impacted me and my life -- 2010 will be my twenty year college reunion, which boggles my mind. I like keeping in touch, keeping track of people... and there are a number of people in my life that while I don't talk to them every month, or even every year -- I could call them and we'd catch up to the last time we'd seen each other without any kind of awkward.

I'm incredibly blessed having these kinds of friends -- and in this busy busy (unimportant non-urgent unessential busy-ness) world, taking an extra 10 minutes to call someone you've not talked to in a coon's age... well, connections and relationships are what carry us through.

"The best mirror is an old friend" ~ George Herbert

"The best way to keep your friends is not to give them away." ~ Wilson Mizner

"Life is partly what we make it, and partly what is made by the friends whom we choose." ~ Teyhi Hsieh