When I travel down the road back to childhood, I instinctively think of my best friend.
I first met her at the first stop in my education: preschool. Although we were in the same preschool class, I didn’t actually get to know her until I serendipitously encountered her in my ballet class. Before I knew it, she attended my church and I saw her all days of the week.
Our families blended together with pool parties, barbeques and even Thanksgiving together. By elementary school, we had long separated into different schools since she lived in a different school district. And yet, we still managed to maintain our friendship up until middle school. As we grew up, we both changed as individuals and although she still held the title of “best friend,” I found myself diverging on my own path.
By the time we hit high school, we were clearly different, evident even from the outside. I twirled around in flowy dresses while she rocked leather jackets. At this time, I finally recognized the crack that had divided us, snapping out of my own denial.
As I made new friends, I quickly realized that there aren’t many people out there that truly have my back. However, in the off chance that you encounter someone who loves you as much as my best friend and I love each other, there’s really no way to avoid wanting to go down that road.
One Easter, as we prepared for the Annual Egg Hunt, our paths intersected again. They had long been parallel roads connected by small streets, but this sudden collision brought us back together. We simply caught ourselves laughing as we pelted bean bags filled with macaroni at a cardboard Easter bunny we had drawn and painted.
As we laughed together, I felt a flashback to our younger days, and I smiled at the thought. As our eyes met, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to let go of her again. Our lives would always have to twist and turn together. It didn’t matter how long we hadn’t been able to actually talk about the “real stuff,” all that mattered was our trust in each other, knowing that whenever one fell back, the other would catch her. We could be stopped with red lights or stop signs, but I knew we would always end up back in the same direction.
Even if you don’t believe in destiny, I feel that when two people find a connection that stays tried and true, they’ll always find a way back to each other, map or no map.