Have you ever had the experience of meeting someone and, after a brief period of time, it’s as if you’ve always known them?
Or perhaps you have a good friend you haven’t seen in years (or decades) and as soon as you’re together, it’s like no time has passed?
Don’t you love when that happens?
I have a soul sister like that and I’ll call her Natalie.
Last year I stayed in a town just a few hours from where she lives. I hadn’t talked to her in awhile but we’d stayed in touch on Facebook. I messaged her letting her know I was nearby.
Natalie immediately called and said she was on her way to this very same town as her daughter was participating in a state event!
Meant to be?
I was a little nervous to see her again. Even though we’d reconnected via social media and the phone in the last few years, I hadn’t seen her or physically been with her in almost 20 years.
The last time we were together, we’d had a falling out.
Maybe it was disappointment at some of my life choices or that I’d backed out of a plan we’d made together. Either way, I felt stifled and judged and in need of some space and time. I’d relocated, moving a thousand miles away, so it became easy to stop communicating with her.
And, as often happens in life, I got busy and left her behind to drift out of my life.
We’d patched things up since then, talking over the phone about what had transpired, but I was still anxious to see her in person.
When I arrived at the park that Saturday to meet her and her family, my body thrummed with excitement and tension. I walked around the crowded fields glancing at the people camped out everywhere and then I spotted her.
She looked exactly the same.
Natalie stood to greet me and it was as if time stood still. I walked up to her and we embraced – tears sprang to my eyes. Holding her was like being home. It was so familiar and nothing had changed.
Well, that isn’t true.
So much had changed.
We both had partners, and children, and more wrinkles. We’d both been working on ourselves too. But instead of growing apart as is so often the case, she was right where I was.
The tension that had existed after that rough phase was long gone.
Once again we were in alignment just like it had been years earlier, when we’d lived together in our early 20s, trying to understand ourselves and our lives and this crazy world we live in. Now we were more mature, had learned a bit and were simply in another phase of existence.
I marveled at how comfortable it was to be with her and I cursed myself for waiting so long to reconnect. I could have had this person in my life all these years and I hadn’t because of distance and pettiness and misunderstanding.
In general, I strive to live without regret.
One of the top regrets of terminally ill and dying patients, is not having spent more time with the people they love, both family and friends. I knew this and yet somehow had allowed it to happen with Natalie, until now.
Instead of punishing or berating myself, I simply accepted what was – that she was back in my life now.
I accepted my past choice of pushing her away and felt grateful that we could resume a close friendship going forward because that was all that mattered.
It’s been a year since I saw her and I look forward to being with her again soon. To hang out and laugh, walk along the seashore or help her weed her garden. I don’t actually care what we do together, just being with her eases my heart as only a soul sister can.
Connections like these are little miracles in our lives.
But they need to be nurtured and cherished. It’s so easy to fall away from people we love because we feel hurt or wronged by a decision they make or a partner they choose. Through my actions (or inaction), I lost 20 years of a close friendship. Thankfully it wasn’t too late.
When we can look beyond our judgment and reconnect the thread that binds us, we know that these soul sisters and brothers are always a part of us and our journey.
Think back to the people who are special to you in your life.
Is there anyone you yearn to find or connect with again?
Someone you loved that fell away due to a misunderstanding or argument?
Thanks to the Internet and social media, it’s even easier than ever to find a loved one. Just remember that reconnecting may involve some forgiveness work or at least being open to another’s point of view. But it’s worth it.
Rekindle those heart relationships.
Seek them out and you’ll be amazed at how full and rich your life can feel.
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