Source: San Francisco Art Exchange
An old friend of mine came to Nashville and we met for lunch. And “old friend”, I realized, has taken on a whole new meaning. We’re both close to the same age and haven’t seen each other in person in over twenty years. Instead of talking about old times, as I expected, we ended up talking about everyone we know who’s died and comparing medications.
Even though we haven’t gotten together in so long we’ve stayed in touch and I have a pretty good idea that he’s open to, well, just about anything, but going back and forth making plans prompted me to post this online and, funny enough, it hit a nerve:
Maybe this is just my experience but any two people making lunch plans need a third person to say “Here’s where you’re going, here’s when you’re meeting, and you can thank me for sparing you fifty text messages over twelve hours.”
I had a similar experience when Ann Koplow came to Nashville. To be clear I really enjoy doing things with people, whether it’s an old friend or a new friend, and I’m sorry scheduling has prevented me from meeting some fellow bloggers—I keep hoping there’ll be another time, and that will be another story. Meshing schedules and deciding what to do can be a fun puzzle but a puzzle nonetheless. I want to be a good host. I want someone visiting here to have a good time, to do things they enjoy doing. Most people are agreeable and upfront about what they like to do and, thanks to the internet, it’s a lot easier for someone who’s never been to a place to figure out what it has to offer regardless of your likes, dislikes, and general interests.
On the other hand I know some people like to be surprised. Some people—yeah, I’m thinking of myself here—will, when asked what they’d like to do, say “Whatever!” and mean it. I’ve visited friends and family in other places and, for example, go-kart racing is never something I’d have thought of, but some friends and I had a great time doing it.
I also know how badly that can go. I know someone who once hosted a well-known writer. He’d written a book about educating children and she thought it would be fun to take him to the circus. It wasn’t.
My friend and I had a really good lunch at an Indian place and then we just walked around, going nowhere in particular, and that’s when I realized that, really, it’s not the place or the activity that makes for a fun experience—it’s the company. And though we didn’t talk about old times or drink any beers we are both still crazy after all these years.
I still think about how hard we worked at getting together in Nashville, Chris, and how it was so worth it. Thanks for being a great, not-so-old friend.
Now I have to go back to trying to figure out how to meet up with my old friend Barbara on Saturday.
Ann Koplow recently posted…Day 4299: The last six months
Good luck with meeting up on Barbara, and I keep hoping that one of these days we’ll get together in Boston. There’s so much there I’d like to see, starting with you!