If it were up to me, we would all keep in touch. I know this is impossible as we grow and move and meet new people and have to make priorities, but in my true utopia, the people I once cared about (and still do) are still just around the corner available for a cup of coffee. We could still run into each other in the grocery store and start chatting in the spice aisle, the way our mothers used to. Our partners would stand there awkwardly while we catch up, the way we used to when we were still brace faced and shy with each other.

I would love a peak into the new and ever expanding lives of the people I once loved. The people I shared the go on make believe adventures with, dirty knees and chlorine hair and freeze pops, laugh until your stomach hurts, first summer with a driver’s license, the sun on your face and the wind in your hair kind of love.

And I know, I know, it’s overdone and cliché to wax poetic about your childhood, especially as you creep ever further away from it. But what interests me more than the memories I have with the people I grew up with is what has happened since. The last time we saw each other, we were wearing mortarboards and honor cords, looking forward to the rest of our lives. We signed “HAGS” or even “have a great life” in our yearbooks and went off. One great cliffhanger on our relationships.

So, what happened? How’d you meet your husband? What does your wife do for work? How’d you end up living abroad? Or in a van? How’s your mom? Does she still make the BEST cookies?

I’ll probably never know, but if you’re reading this and we ever mattered to each other - I hope you’re doing great. I hope your life has been big and beautiful and continues to be that way. I hope we run into each other one day and hug and reminisce. But until that happens, my sentiment today is that I just hope you have a great summer.

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