A Voice from the Past
Have you ever had the experience of hearing from someone that you had been tangentially involved with in the past? Not someone you've had a romantic relationship with, I'm talking about someone that you might have been acquanted with - maybe a coworker, or a classmate. Not someone that you had a true friendship with, but someone you would recognize and say hello to.
Well, I've recently received an email from just such a person. Angela was a coworker in BC Public Schools. She worked in the technical support department, while I worked in the educational uses of technology...so we had a tangential relationship. We would see each other sometimes in the office, and we were always friendly. She was, however, about 10 years younger than me. She had lived her entire life in a small town, and had the limited social and cultural vision that comes with that.
During the time that we were acquantences, she had the opportunity to study in England for a short time. I remember distinctly having conversations with her about this. She was unsure about doing it...it scared her to think of being away from her comfort zone. I tried to tell her that she would have a blast, and would end up loving England, however, I knew that she wouldn't really believe me (regardless of her tacit agreement) until she had lived through the experience.
Anyway, she returned from England, and the change was obvious. She talked incessently about returning to England. She had found "love" - whatever that means for a 19 year old woman, and she had gotten a taste of worldly culture. The transformation was completely predictable. Within a year, she had moved to England, gotten a job, moved in with her love, and was planning a wedding.
When I decided to move to England with my family, I remembered that she was over here, and had a vague sense of where she lived, however, I didn't really have any interest in looking her up. After all, we didn't have too much in common, and she definitely had to grow up a bit - something that is better accomplished without the crutch of connections to the former life.
I've recently gotten a couple of emails from her, as we share a mutual friend who is also living in England. She is pregnant, now, and desperate to return to the States. Desperate to be around family. Desperate to be back in that comfort zone.
I would have probably forseen this outcome if I had taken even the slightest effort to think about Angela at all since we last talked. I wonder if she'll be the kind of person that will occassionally pop into my life...the kind of person that you never completely shake and confine to the cobweb section of your mind, but the kind of person that will always be an uncomfortable reminder of what my life (and her life) used to be...
Have you ever had the experience of hearing from someone that you had been tangentially involved with in the past? Not someone you've had a romantic relationship with, I'm talking about someone that you might have been acquanted with - maybe a coworker, or a classmate. Not someone that you had a true friendship with, but someone you would recognize and say hello to.
Well, I've recently received an email from just such a person. Angela was a coworker in BC Public Schools. She worked in the technical support department, while I worked in the educational uses of technology...so we had a tangential relationship. We would see each other sometimes in the office, and we were always friendly. She was, however, about 10 years younger than me. She had lived her entire life in a small town, and had the limited social and cultural vision that comes with that.
During the time that we were acquantences, she had the opportunity to study in England for a short time. I remember distinctly having conversations with her about this. She was unsure about doing it...it scared her to think of being away from her comfort zone. I tried to tell her that she would have a blast, and would end up loving England, however, I knew that she wouldn't really believe me (regardless of her tacit agreement) until she had lived through the experience.
Anyway, she returned from England, and the change was obvious. She talked incessently about returning to England. She had found "love" - whatever that means for a 19 year old woman, and she had gotten a taste of worldly culture. The transformation was completely predictable. Within a year, she had moved to England, gotten a job, moved in with her love, and was planning a wedding.
When I decided to move to England with my family, I remembered that she was over here, and had a vague sense of where she lived, however, I didn't really have any interest in looking her up. After all, we didn't have too much in common, and she definitely had to grow up a bit - something that is better accomplished without the crutch of connections to the former life.
I've recently gotten a couple of emails from her, as we share a mutual friend who is also living in England. She is pregnant, now, and desperate to return to the States. Desperate to be around family. Desperate to be back in that comfort zone.
I would have probably forseen this outcome if I had taken even the slightest effort to think about Angela at all since we last talked. I wonder if she'll be the kind of person that will occassionally pop into my life...the kind of person that you never completely shake and confine to the cobweb section of your mind, but the kind of person that will always be an uncomfortable reminder of what my life (and her life) used to be...
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home