reunion

last night, i met with kendall, an old friend whom i hadn't seen in about twenty years. he is perhaps my oldest friend. i knew him when i was in the first grade over at mililani uka. he lived on my block, so every now and then, i would head over to his house to play with cars and stuff. by the end of the third grade, he moved away to town. apparently, he went to lunalilo for a couple of months, and then started the fourth grade over at st. patrick's school. he eventually went to mid-pac for high school, and that was when i kind of lost touch with him. the last time we met, we both ran at some track meet. he naturally blew me away (i was, and am, a pretty crappy runner). apparently, after i lost touch, he went to moanalua for the last two years of high school...

i kept thinking, as i listened to his story, that it must have been hard. some people are lucky enough to stay in one place, establish friendships, keep them... but other people keep moving, keep having to start all over from scratch. i often wonder what it must do to a person, particularly during formative years (high school included). a lot of my friends underwent that. myself, i was one of the lucky few who lingered over at mililani. i felt really sorry for myself, in the sense that so many of my friends went away... but looking at it from the perspective of someone who actually moved away, well, i had it really easy.

it felt disorienting but natural at the same time to talk to kendall. he was a lot taller (a head taller at least), and his hair color had changed. and it was hard to see the same mannerisms i had remembered of him; he is, after all, a "grown up" now... but there was a patience and kindness about him that made it easy to communicate with him. ultimately, we talked about a lot of stuff, some pretty personal. strange, to share some details after such a long gap of correspondence. but it felt- natural.

kendall will be moving to portland at the end of this month. it was actually fortuitous that i found him on facebook when i did, or i would have missed this opportunity to meet him face to face... things haven't been easy for him. i felt ashamed of myself at times, ashamed of my complacency, my little complaints. i am very fortunate. i'm married to a great person, i have two great kids... i wish kendall (and other friends) the same, but ultimately, everyone has their own path to walk, everyone has to work out their own problems/complexities... it makes little sense, but... i still wish kendall (and others) the best, the happiness that is his due.

i feel, i don't know, stronger, after having met kendall again. it's like the river of life that i am in (or i am) has just met with a long forgotten tributary, and together, we are all flowing towards our respective oceanic destiny... or something like that.