I had a happy reunion recently, and at the end of it, I found myself standing over a pan of hot soapy water, bawling my eyes out. Let me explain:
A few weeks ago, I got an unexpected call from an old friend. As soon as I heard her say, "Hello!" I knew it was her. She and I met at a block party twelve years ago when we were both young mothers of toddler boys (1 each). We were both navigating our new lives as stay-at-home mothers, still shell-shocked from the transition to our new careers as distracted mommies. Over the next two years, we forged a friendship that became very strong. We had each other's backs: I once called her, frantic, when an out of town visitor arrived a day earlier than expected. When her second child arrived, I was the one who got the call at 2 a.m. to come and stay with her son.
When I moved several states away, we wrote letters that really read more like novellas. Then she moved several states away. More novellas. We never lost contact. We emailed. We sent photos of our kids at Christmas.
So last week, I saw my sweet distracted mommy friend after 10 years. We hugged and giggled and gossiped. For a few hours, her kids played with my kids while we talked at break-neck speed and tried to fill each other in on the past decade.
So why was I crying?
Well, she had to leave. After our precious few hours together, my friend packed her kids up in the car and drove away. I stood in my front yard, and watched her car disappear around the corner.
Then I headed back into the house, ran a dishpan of hot soapy water, and started scrubbing at the pizza pans from dinner. And I started bawling. Silent tears, so my children didn't think I'd completely lost it. Being a mother, I cry about everything now. Not just sad movies and YouTube videos of adorable kittens. I cry now because of friendship. I guess I was crying because she left and I don't know if it'll be another 10 years before I see her again. But I think I was crying happy tears, too. There are precious friendships that come and go, but those few that last are pretty precious. Tears-in-dishwater-worthy.
