TouchStone

I had lunch yesterday with an old friend. She went to college with me, and lived down the hall from me in my freshman year dorm. We hit it off right away with the same oddball sense of humor and cemented our friendship early in the fall of 1990 when a stereotypical mean girl in our hall lashed out at her in a stereotypical mean girl way. Soon our schedules were synched with English classes and Stage Makeup electives and since she was a year ahead of me I would basically take her schedule and go register a few days later with the same classes. We have the same name and our last names Lyons and Logan were so similar that we were practically interchangeable, and answered to both. With Jenny around I was never alone. We pledged a sorority together (her idea) and ironically, but when she lost interest and found a new circle of friends I became more enmeshed in the sorority and had to find other friends to fill my time. We would always circle back and were each other's touchstone when we needed it. She graduated and quite literally travelled the world and I still had one year of college that I stretched to two, with no interest in growing up or finding a job. I worked at the on-campus daycare and lived on snippets of allowance that my parents still sent me. Against my will I graduated and finally found a job in NYC. Jenny had been back in New York for some time, working glamourous jobs in fashion and for magazines. Occasionally we would run into each other. She went to Colorado and I to Texas and began what I refer to as my "uptight newlywed phase". We weren't in each other's wedding parties but went to each other's weddings. As we had babies we gradually got more in touch, again circling back to the comfortable place we once were. I ended up in Connecticut eight years ago, now she's been here almost three. Now we see each other about once a month, sometimes more sometimes less. But it's like we never left.
When we get together now at the tail end of our 30's we marvel at where we are... sitting in a chi-chi restaurant in Old Greenwich, walking around the boutiques, pretending to not be shocked at the price tags on the clothes ($275 for a cardigan!!!!!) and settling on buying a pair of $9 earrings. Just a couple of kids from Brooklyn and Staten Island, playing dress up and trying to be grown ups. I'm glad to have you back.