Stylized line drawing of mark playing the flute

The oddity of passing time

I’ve written many times about the Fir Acres writing workshop I did when I was 13 (and this won’t be the last time I come back to it).

I formed some amazing friendships during that time. People bonded in a way that I had never experienced before.

We went our separate ways at the end of the two weeks. I exchanged letters with a handful of people throughout the summer, but most of that ended when school started. Everyone got back to their regular lives and we all drifted away.

Communication was harder then. A physical letter was so much more time consuming. Phone calls were expensive. I’m sure a lot of people were better at it than I was, but I struggled with it.

Jump ahead to Facebook. Suddenly you can find almost anyone from your past.

But really, you don’t know them at all anymore. Someone you knew as a teenager is now a grownup. You’ve missed all of the ground they’ve covered, the life they’ve lead.

And that is the most jarring thing in the world. To care about someone deeply, then not see them for decades.