Is reuniting with an old friend after many years of not having had seen them a good or bad idea?

Note: Please remember, your life has completely changed, and well, you are not the same wild and spunky person you were in the past.

Part A: Reaction to news of a possible reunion

The following is a reaction to hearing from an individual I have not seen or heard from in several years.

Recently, a friend I had not seen in six years contacted me to reunite. It was surprising to discover an individual from my very boring high school past was interested in seeing how my life has progressed or not progressed.

Now, how would you react if this person told you that he or she even paid to find out where you were? Is this creepy or flattering? Many people pay a fee to find old friends over the Internet. But does that make it right for someone to purchase your personal information?

In other words, I was intrigued to meet someone who went as far to buy information about my relatively lackluster life, and I was also spooked out.

Within minutes of talking to my old friend, the second question he asked was whether I was single or not.

‘This sounds a lot like a mating call’

My immediate thoughts were, “So, he is not trying to contact me because he simply misses my company. He is after my charm, wit and good looks.” Sure. Of course, in any self-absorbed individual’s mind, this would be true, as well as very unrealistic. But then again it is very plausible that he might just have a keen romantic interest in meeting me.

Part B: And it goes on….

Beware: The next portion was written two weeks after meeting my dear old friend. Beliefs about how creepy this person was prior to meeting him were initial thoughts and may be subject to change.

The “Meeting”

We arranged to meet each other two weeks later for a cup of joe and some conversation.

The meeting went off without a hitch. We clicked and talked like old friends attempting to get reacquainted. Throughout our conversation, he revisited the topic of my non-existent dating life. As every moment felt like an eternity of uncomfortable silence, expectations of what could result from this fateful meeting increased.

As every hour passed us, I continued to boast about my life to a near record level of absurdity. I became a painter, musician, poet, and a crime- and corruption-fighting superhero journalist. Sadly, I proclaimed myself the next Hemingway. That was highly unrealistic.

So, we meet again

As he listened to my humorless jokes and I absorbed his deep thoughts about life, we still, after several passing years, had a great deal in common and conversed as though we never parted ways. I got over my initial disbelief that he had invaded my right to privacy.

Since he was a good and long-time friend from my past, I was willing to meet him. If another individual, however, would have approached me with the same story as he did, I would have labeled that person a maniacal psycho killer.

Reuniting with an old friend is an interesting, once-in-a-lifetime experience. However, it shouldn’t be as ordinary as taking a shower or having a beer. That becomes repetitive.

Who knows where our friendship will end up next – in tears or in Disneyland? Who knows.

Veronica Rocha can be reached at city@csun.edu.