Reconnecting With An Old Friend

I found a pleasant surprise in my Facebook inbox recently: word that my high school friend and UCLA college roommate Nicole was coming to Hawaii last minute for a quick getaway with her husband to celebrate their anniversary.

I realized it was their 11th anniversary because I recalled that was the last time we’d actually seen each other. Nicole’s wedding was my last hurrah in California before I moved to Hawaii for work. In fact, I took a call from general manager Rick Blangiardi during her reception to accept his job offer as a news reporter. The year was 2002.

Wow, so much has happened for both of us since then, but other than an occasional social media “like,” we had lost touch. Here was a gift. A chance to catch up in person.

We went to the same California high school. But it wasn’t until we both were accepted to UCLA and pursued political science in lecture halls with hundreds of other underclassmen that we really bonded – two Bay Area girls who became studying, shopping and, yes, even clubbing partners. We were in Los Angeles, after all. That takes us even farther back. We’re talking 1992, but our history goes back to the ’80s.

So I jumped at the chance to meet up on a Saturday at her hotel at Ko Olina, my family in tow. During the particularly long drive out to the west side, I wondered, “Will it be like old times, will the conversation flow, will our husbands feel left out of our inside jokes?”

As it turns out, yes, yes and no. There’s an ease and comfort in reconnecting with an old friend that can’t be manufactured or duplicated – to know we’ve seen each other through high points such as graduation, her acceptance to law school, my first TV jobs. And there were some lows too, from questionable dates, fashion and bad hair we’d probably rather forget. (Hey, we were children of the ’80s!)

We picked right up like we hadn’t missed a beat. I haven’t laughed so hard in years, swapping stories from our past and present.

I remember when I left L.A. for my first on-air job in Lima, Ohio, and she was starting out as a lawyer, we made a pact that if we weren’t satisfied with where we were when we hit 30 (what seemed like a lifetime away at the time!), we’d pick up and move to Europe. That never happened. I take it as a good sign that our 30s were a time to establish ourselves professionally, get married, have children – a boy and a girl for both of us. And now we try to figure out how to balance it all.

There’s comfort in knowing we’ve had similar successes and struggles. Both have a bedtime battle trying to get our kids to sleep. Both try to stay on top of school work. But, it was a nice surprise to come full circle and celebrate the women and moms we’ve become.

Although a European getaway always would be welcome!