After 12 years of being out of contact with each other S.A. and I finally spoke on the phone tonight. It was just as I had hoped it would be. We talked as though it had been only 12 days since we last talked. I posted on here a couple of days ago about my friend S.A. who had disappeared off the face of the earth. We last spoke in 1995. I had just moved to Cincinnati to teach high school and she was on her way to Texas to get married. Who knows what happened, and in truth it doesn't matter. We lost each other. But tonight we were reunited.

A lot has happened in the past 12 years for both of us. S.A. became S.W. Unfortunately the marriage didn't work out. But she now has a beautiful 10 year old son. This is S.A. who could barely keep a plant alive and now she's being trusted with another human being. She had cancer and had to have a kidney removed. She moved from Texas to Florida. She quit her career for a "regular" job so that she would have more time to spend with her son. She almost cut her foot off with a lawn mower. She visited NYC for the first time 2 years ago and can't wait to come back for a visit.

It was hard for both of us to decide what we should tell first. We wanted to say it all, and yet needed to tell the important stuff first. I told her about the death of my father. About moving from Cincinnati, to New York, to California, back to New York, and about my new teaching job. I told her about almost dying when my appendix exploded in 2003. I told her about grad school. I talked a little about being in NYC during 9-11 and having to relocate from my apartment. We talked politics. Something we never did when we knew each other before, but we found comfort in knowing that we were both on the same side of the fence.

The conversation flowed effortlessly. I walked as we talked and without even thinking covered almost 40 blocks. After 90 minutes I finally said that I had to go. That I was at my subway stop and the train was waiting. I think in many ways we were both afraid to hang up. For me I was afraid that it would be another 12 years until we talked again. I confessed this to her. We both agreed to talk again this weekend. I'm sure it will happen. She is one of the special people. She has always had a good heart and I am honored to call her my friend. I am glad she's back in my life.