Believe it or not, I am not drunk. I know you are saying to yourself, "What? Alyssa is up at this hour and she's not drunk? She must be heavily medicated!" I'm not.
I have just returned from what was quite possibly one of the best evenings of just driving around in history. God, I remember when I was in the band and it was so cool to go driving with the older kids after a competition. That was just a side little trip there.
Okay, so I was on the phone with Gina, already in my pj's, when a call beeps in. The caller id only identified this person as wireless caller, so I was tempted not to answer, but who was on the other line, but my good buddy Eric, from high school! So here is the story with Eric:
Eric was my first serious boyfriend. You guys probably all know by now that I've never been in love, but if ever I was close to it, it would have been with him. Before we started going out, we promised each other that if we broke up, we would stay friends. Generally, I do attempt this with every person I date, but it sometimes turns into a hairy situation. But anyway, back to Eric. I think he was the person who taught me that maybe 2 kids who live alone with their mothers should not be a couple. I mean, I was the center of my mom's world and he was the center of his (his mom, by the way, is still my favorite ex's mom, and she emails me from time to time inviting me to her little condo in Florida).
This is a lot of superfluous information. Anyway, basically we haven't seen each other in a year and a half and he was just getting off work (from Papa John's. Every one of my high school friends did a stint at Papa's, myself included) and he decided to swing by my house. So, I threw on some clothes and put my contacts back in and we hit the open road.
God, it was just so awesome to come together now after everything that's happened and after all the changes we've been through. You learn that no matter what, some things never change. Like the fact that he will drive 80 in a blizzard through the back roads of Alexandria. And he's still always hot no matter what the temperature may be.
So we drove and we talked for hours about the friends we lost and the friends we've kept. And we talked about how ridiculous our relationship had been and how it had seemed like it was everything when we were younger and laughed about how insignificant it all seems now. This is so nostalgic.
The best thing that I've learned in leaving home to go away to school is that people are not one-dimensional. And that you can't change someone, no matter how hard you may try. I think when I was younger, all I wanted was for my friends to think the way I did and to be exactly like me, and it's just so amazing now to get together with someone you have so much history with and to finally appreciate him for the person he is. Used to be that I would yell at him all the time for "spreading himself too thin" because he knew, seriously, everyone, and I thought his little obsession with dragons was dumb and childish. But you know what? I really think it's cool that he knows so many people now. I mean, when the boy throws a party, he throws a par-tay, and you see people you haven't seen in years. And I have to admire the fact that he's got himself a hobby and has stuck with it, whatever people may have said to him about it.
And it's just so great when you see someone again and you know that they've grown, and that they're becoming the person they want to be. And to realize that maybe I've grown a little bit, too.
My apologies and a farewell??? - 2005-10-20
It should be Friday somewhere. - 2005-10-03
It's Friday again! - 2005-10-01
Amendment to previous entry... - 2005-09-26
Longer than I intended. It's to tide you over for another week. - 2005-09-23