Revolution

Ever since I started playing guitar, and particularly in the last month or so, I’ve thought a lot about a close friend from high school who was a guitar player. We spent a lot of time together listening to music and playing in a band together, but I hadn’t seen or talked to him for about 20 years. I had the feeling that our friendship ended badly, and it’s been bothering me that I let such a close relationship go for so many years without even trying to renew it or at least .

Last week I finally Googled my friend, Jason, and found his website. He is living a dream – stay-at-home dad and traveling musician. As I browsed through his pages, I saw that he was scheduled to perform at a bar in Arlington, less than an hour from my home, on Sunday night. Serendipitously, my family and I were already planning to spend the day there visiting friends - the universe seemed to be conspiring for my friend and me to meet again.

I e-mailed Jason with some trepidation, wondering if my feeling that our relationship had ended badly was based on something that I had done or said, or if it were something else. Honestly I couldn’t remember having a falling out – I just had this feeling of having parted badly. I was overjoyed to receive a quick response, and we superficially caught up on our lives electronically. It became apparent that my family plans for the day and his travel schedule would not necessarily allow us to meet during the day when I thought it would work best for me. I decided that at least we had made contact, and we could catch up on the phone later.

Sunday morning my family and I went up to Arlington as we had planned, and we had a wonderful visit with some close friends from California and their parents. My kids found salamanders and worms in the back yard with Kate while Mike and I played our songs for each other inside. As the time to leave grew closer, I felt more and more compelled to find a way to stay and see my friend Jason again. With a lot of help from our newest family member Jamiila, I was able to.

I really wondered what Jason’s reaction would be when he saw me. Would he recognize me? Would he be surprised? Glad? Dismayed? I really didn’t know what to expect. I knew I would recognize him because I’d seen his pictures on his website.

As we walked into the bar and Jason saw me, his reaction took away all my insecurity. Arms wide, he came right up to me and it was as if the 20 years had never passed. We spent the hour before his set talking and talking, catching up on some of the details of our lives and laughing about our teenage antics from so long ago. It was an energizing and affirming experience to reconnect so quickly and thoroughly with someone I cared so much about.

As I listened to Jason playing his Mississippi blues that night, I realized that in many respects I now have more in common with the person I was 20 years ago than the one who I was even five years ago. Seeing my dear old friend helped me realize that the transformations in my life have led me back to where I was as a young adult in many ways – life as revolution, as well as evolution.