Where the Men are Men and the Sheep are Scared

So, I went back to my old stomping ground for a library symposium. It was a one-day thing that was really good. The presentations were useful, practical, and interesting. But, as I mentioned in a previous post, it was at my alma mater. I was able to combine a little professional development with some fun.

I went to school in the middle of nowhere. It was an ag school. And our unofficial motto was, "Where the men are men and the sheep are scared." We also made comments about swimming buck naked in the creek, but whatever.

Anyway, an old friend picked me up at the airport. Last time I saw her was in 2003 during my last semester of library school. We went to one of those outdoor "lifestyle" malls to hang out until we met some other friends for dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant.

We grabbed lunch, had coffee and talked. It's been a long time since she and I had a heart-to-heart. Relationships--past and present, parents, life. It felt good to have someone there who has known me for that long, someone who has seen me at my best and worst. There was no need to go into any long explanation. We could just talk.

Y'all, let me tell you, the evening at the Indian restaurant was one of the most enjoyable I have had in a long time. I wish it could have gone on for days. There were six of use total. Most of them I had seen at least once in the last five or six years, a few of them more. But, still, it had been years. But one friend? We hadn't seen each other in fourteen years. Last time I saw her, her daughter was five. Now she's nineteen.

I can't put into words how great it was to see her. We only spent one academic year together but it was one memorable year. I could fill this blog with words, phrases, and stories that only she would understand. For ten months we were attached at the hip. I introduced her to the father of her daughter--hell, the three of us could barely function without one of the other two in the same room. She and I did a good job of fucking up our college careers that first year. I decided to stick it out and finished, she decided to move on. Don't get me wrong, we're both doing fine and we both did well for ourselves. We just took different directions.

Seeing her, catching up, hanging out, talking, hugging, reminiscing, joking, laughing, smoking.... God, it was so amazingly great.

I loved seeing everyone. Two friends may be moving out this way--not for years, though, but it's a possibility. I miss both of them and when one said, "I wish you lived closer," well... I wish I did, too.

These are the people I grew up with. These are the people who were there when I faced some of my biggest challenges. These are the people who mean more to me than almost anyone. These are the people who, despite all this time, know me better than anyone else. It's amazing how fifteen or twenty years later, how much we were still the same.

It's been a rough couple of weeks in the Pacific Northwest. I've had to do a lot of thinking and decision making. My stress level has been higher than it has been in a long time. Things seem to have leveled out some, but I have a feeling this is a lull before it goes back up again. But this long weekend away was needed for so many reasons.

On a professional level it was great to be around other librarians who liked being librarians. People who experiment with different ideas and projects. People who aren't stuck in this idea that a library is a warehouse for old books.

On a personal level it was a much-needed shot in the arm. These people helped me sort some things out and see things a little clearer. I needed that.