Enjoying trails of foorptints

I caught up with a friend last week that I had gone to school with starting in 6th grade.  We have known each other for a very long time, but we haven't kept in touch through the years.  We were on the same football team when we were 11 years old, in school together during junior high and on the football team there too.  When we went to high school we began to travel in different circles, and we branched out from our junior high spheres, becoming involved in different activities and with the friends of those activities.  But certainly we still passed in the halls and had a few classes together.

After high school I didn't see him again.  Many years passed and our lives took us to places very far from our hometowns, so the intersection of our paths didn't happen again until last week.  We spent about an hour rehashing our journeys.  I never would have guessed where his journey took him.  I was really surprised he had landed in the banking business and eventually training bank managers for one of the largest banks in the country.  Coming out of high school I would never have figured that for him because he was a rather reserved guy with good grades, slightly better than average, and had very conservative values.  He mentioned that he would never have guessed my journey either.

We had a calm, interesting conversation because that's what old friends do.  The two of you go so far back, you knew the other before he was impressive to everyone else.  You don't tell your journey to impress, he knew you back at your roots.  So, you might not want to exaggerate your story in any way.  When you have one of these conversations, there are two trademarks for them.  A sense of calm or ease pervades your words, and an element of genuine interest in the other person's events lightens the spirit.  I had a conversation with a high school friend and teammate earlier this month, and the same two trademarks surfaced.

Old friends do a heart good in this world of deceit, ambition, and ego-centrism.