Andy Bernard once said “I wish there was a way to know you’re in “the good old days“, before you’ve actually left them”. If there was ever a moment in life I had that realization, it was tonight. To steal a quote from one of you “I missed this”. I missed us, I missed this….incredibly dysfunctional as fuck group of friends that became, well a dysfunctional as fuck family. From the outside looking in you’ll wonder how we can stand each other, and trust me there are times we would probably say the same, but from the inside looking out, there are none better. While we may knock each other down, we’re the first to pick each other up.
What started as one friend visiting and a potential gathering turned into a reunion we all knew we needed. It’s hard to imagine it was over six years ago we began to find each other, one here, two there, it’s hard to remember how it all even happened. We’ve lost a few along the way…..no for those reading at home they didn’t die, they simply phased or faded away. Whether it was a job change, lack of motivation to be around our exhausting personalities, or general dislike for us, some came to stay and some left as fast as they could. I know it’s hard to imagine who couldn’t like the rays of fucking sunshine we are but I’m sure there were a few. As we gather around this table, there’s a sudden realization as if time had stopped and we had never left it.
Ok, at this point of the night if we were playing Among Us there is one person at the table who is sus AS FUCK. We know it, they know it, we’re just waiting to jettison them out of the airlock at this point.
Anyway, this moment, it’s the first time almost all of us are together in a very long time. I’ve missed you all. Memories of struggles, triumphs, heartbreaks, and happiness come flooding back as I find your faces, each smiling from ear to ear. It’s a hell of a thought to believe we’ve made it this far and somehow we’ve become adults some of us even with houses, if you can believe that nonsense. It’s amazing to believe we still don’t have a clue what we are doing as we spear steak tips with fondue skewers because “we didn’t actually have anything else”. Who the hell let us have responsibilities? I’ve often wondered as I grow older if my parents experienced the same thing. We always think those before us have it figured out, and if you’re reading this in the future, they sure as shit don’t.
The stories, the sticky note, the yelling over each other like the jackasses we are…..it’s home. A home I feel a stranger too yet wildly comfortable in. Not because we’ve neglected each other, it’s because that’s who we are. We go weeks, sometimes months without seeing each other to the point it can almost hurt. When the stars align and we all come together, as I mentioned above, it’s as if we never left this table, or bar, or apartment we last saw each other. The volume it speaks of the bonds we share. While others pretend to have it, we know we do.
While we laugh and celebrate an impromptu “jam”, a promotion, the end of COVID (Maybe? I’ll have to age test that statement), I find a song I hadn’t heard in ages snake through my brain, “I wish that I could have this moment for life”.