A blast from the past.

MySpace is crazy. You can find old friends, new friends, and people you were hoping to forget. And they can find you, too. Which is what happened to me recently (the first part, not the last part). My friend Jeff, who I haven't seen since my freshman year at Cal Poly, sent me a message, and it turns out he's living in Dublin, about 20 minutes from Walnut Creek. So we had dinner last night.

I was really nervous going into it, because, after nine years, who's to say we'd even like each other? Or have anything to talk about? Or what if he didn't have a sense of humor and I ended up causing a scene because I stuck a fork in my hand to wake myself up?

Thankfully, none of these were the case. We met at an Italian restaurant in downtown Pleasanton (p.s., which is totally cute - a little Main Street USA, all lit up and full of people), and I had no trouble spotting him outside. He looked exactly the same - tall, blonde, very All American. The minute we sat down we were both like, "Ohmigod, what, 10 years, what's been going on, who are you now?" And from there, we were fine. We started with him: international travel, move to Hawaii, sub-prime market crash, acceptance to pre-med at Berkeley. Me: I'm a good listener.

We started by talking about careers, then ended up discussing who we are in the world and whether we're happy. It's nice sometimes to talk with someone who understands things from exactly your point of view, and can offer some reassurance, or at least offer comfort that you're not the only one who worries about this stuff.

It's weird, because I had the biggest crush on him for a while in high school. He didn't quite return the favor. But I won, because I ended up dating a hottie named Jason who was totally more awesome. (No, I'm fine with it!) And now I'm trying to wrap my mind around whether new Jeff and I are going to be friends again, after all this time. Can boys and girls just be friends? Should I start thinking things about him saying, "You can get the next one?"

I'll keep you posted.