Back to the Old Familiar Places

by Cathy


I happened to be driving in a neighborhood near my parent's house yesterday, which I have driven through hundreds of thousands of times over the years - even now. However, I usually don't stop and think of the nostalgia these familiar, yet now different streets bring back to me if I allow them to. I'm usually so hurried, mentally checking off my to-do list, talking/dealing with my kids or whomever is in the car with me while driving around.

But yesterday, my one day off of work, I found myself back in that neighborhood to run an errand. This time, I was alone. My mind was completely relaxed; I didn't even get a touch of my usual road rage. I was patient with slow drivers - even smiled at them. I hummed to every song that came on the radio instead of switching the dial constantly to find one that didn't annoy me or match my mood. I wasn't rushed. How much more accommodating the world seems when you are not rushed or stressed.

As I drove past these streets, I allowed the memories of what transpired within them to play like a "This Is Your Life" reel in my head.  'I drove down this street with so-and-so to go here. So-and-so lived here...wonder how they're doing? They had great parties in this house right here. This is where I used to go with my dad after church every Sunday. There used to be a so-and-so here loooooong ago - now it's a bank.'

My mind was blissfully traveling back amongst those times, those days, those events in my life. It got me thinking about how my life has changed since then - the people and places I once lived my life with and within, and how they've changed, moved on or disappeared.

Being in the right place at the right time can have such a tremendous impact on your life - where you run into the exact person you need/don't need to have in your life at that moment - where you happen to see someone from your past you do/don't want to see again - where something really fantastic/awful could happen to you - all because of the certain events in your life that lead you to THAT moment and THAT place at THAT particular time.

At the end of my long day of running errands, I briefly debated whether or not to attend Bella's volleyball game at school. But since I haven't missed one of her games yet, I decided I couldn't and didn't want to.

Wouldn't you know it...

I ended up running in to my old boss back from 15 years ago. She was more like a good friend than a boss - just a year or two older than me - and we had the best time when we worked together back in the day. I hadn't seen her since my wedding and had lost touch shortly thereafter when she went to work for a different agency. But there she was, standing in my daughters' school, a mom of three girls herself whom she brought to play against my daughter's team that night.

After the joyous hugs and exchanging of emails, I couldn't help but think the string of thousands of events that had to happen just perfectly - just as they had - for us to meet again.