I was in Chicago last weekend and managed to catch up with some pals from the yesteryears. On my (very boring) flight back to Houston, I started thinking about how we form bonds with some people that strangely seem to withstand the test of time. We may be out of touch with some people for a long time, but when you meet them its almost like you start off where you left. No uncomfortable silences, no weirdness, no one-up-man-ship, no pretentiousness. Conversation flows smooth, just like a well aged single malt.
Life happens. We change. Sometimes so much that we are reduced to nothing but a mere shadow of what we once were. However hard we try not to, somewhere something changes ... and often it's not for the better. Reunions offer us a golden opportunity to travel back in time and provide us with a glimpse of what we once were, and then we look at ourselves now. If you feel that there is nothing good about the old you that you have lost over the years .... then all I can say is, good job growing up!
Then there's the fun part too ... the things that haven't changed. The buffoonery, the ability to just sit and yap all day long about nothing at all, the annoying-to-the-fiancé homo-erotic jokes, and the old unresolved friendly fights and banter. There are very few things that feel as deeply relaxing, serene, and exhilarating at the same time! One of the things that I am sure all of us have done at some point of time is create a buzzword/phrase/gesture to be used in a particular situation, which is like a private joke between a select group of individuals. To everyone else it is annoying and lame, but to the inner circle it's hilarious. When the "inner circle" meet after many years, not only do they pay homage to these private totems from the past but may also add some more to the existing list ... much to the future annoyance of others (those who don't know the origin of the joke) in whose presence these jokes will be cracked later.
When I asked my buddy in Chicago if we could catch a movie after dinner, he said "SLAP"! That's right, that was his answer! SLAP was his developed-on-the-spot acronym for "sounds like a plan"! It might be weird to you, but it had us rolling in laughter for some inexplicable reason. Soon, we had SWIM for "see what I mean", and PITA for "pain in the ass". Every time one of us used these acronyms it sent the gang into a fit of laughter. Was the joke that funny for three adults (all MBA's from premium B-schools) to giggle like a bunch of school girls in pink ribbons? Probably not. But there's something unknown (to me, at least) about our shared past that makes such jokes funny.
... and that's why I used the word "ineffable" in the first sentence of this post. That and the fact that I really like the word.
Knowing how hardworking some of you are, I know you are reading this at work. I am assuming if you had the time to read a blog post while your boss thinks you are creating shareholder value, you will also have the time through the day to think about some private jokes that you shared with some of your close friends in the past. If you are reading this at home, then try to think of those jokes and those buddies right away. Try to recollect some of those memories, and then drop a line to them saying "Hi ... it's been a while! Let's catch up sometime!".
For those of you who don't GAS (acronym for "give a shit") to this kind of stuff, well ... all the best! But for those of you who do GAS, here's some unasked-for-advice: please don't fool yourself into believing that you will do this "over the next weekend" ... do it now! How do I know that this thought crossed your mind? I took a SWAG (acronym for "scientific wild ass guess").
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