History, revisited.

2/28/05 -- I posted this story about my past and a pair I called Derrick and Vidalia. Here's the link http://thereisthat.blogspot.com/2005_02_01_thereisthat_archive.html


Vidalia's been creeping back into the edges of my life lately. She and Derrick did indeed get married. Scott and I ran into her and her husband at a mutual friends barbecue a few months ago. Got to thinking about the people that we know whose lives intersect. And I took a leap and called to invite her and her husband to our housewarming this weekend.

She responded warmly and was pleased that I had invited them.

I figured they'd come to the party and we'd exchange polite party banter and then we'd run into each once in a while and it would be far less awkward.

Turns out the running into each other happened sooner than the party. I was at the local college where I am planning to transfer this fall (VWC, for you locals) and she comes in almost like we had planned to be there at the same time and is paying for her classes and whatnot. Crazy! So, I'm getting ready to go meet with my advisor and she's telling me what classes she's enrolling in and what's available.

When I meet with the advisor, it turns out that the only class it looks like I'm fit for IS (who doesn't see THIS one coming) is a class that Vidalia is also going to be enrolled in.

Well, I just had to call her on the way home. It was too funny. (After all these years, I still know her number by heart because of a drunken night when I recorded her answering machine message.) I was like I know that you're not going to believe that I'm not stalking you, but...

We laughed. And it was nice to laugh with a friend that I had laughed with so many times in the past. I had a big smile on my face when we hung up.

The Vidalia story has always been one of the ultimate conundrums in my life. Why didn't she come to me? Why didn't we work it out? Why didn't I give up my pride? I didn't want the man, he wasn't right for me. It was NEVER, EVER about that. (No offense meant to the man, but whatever.)

And I think that I may have figured it out. V and I were good friends when this went down, but we weren't OLD friends. Our friendship wasn't strong enough to the withstand that level of drama. We couldn't have a fight and just brush it off. When we had a fight, it meant the end. It was the high school level of friendship, I guess.

Do I think we're going to become tight buddies again? I doubt it. It's water under the bridge and the bygones are definitely gone, but I think there's going to be too much awkwardness between us to ever get back to that level. I don't know.

I don't know.

You never know where life will take you, eh?