The · Life · and · Times · of...

One of the major landmarks of my life was my transcontinental move when I was 10 years old. Not only did I have to start a new school, speak a new language, and adapt to a new lifestyle, I was forced to put a bookmark in my life as it was in Poland, after 10 years of knowing, growing up with and living with the same friends. True, there were many times that I wanted to leave them all behind, but in the end, who really does want something like that?
Either way, my life in Poland as I knew it was put on hold. First for only one year, as I came back the following summer, and then another year and another summer vacation. Finally, three years passed when I finally went back again two summer ago, after freshman year of high school. Unfortunately, however, I was dreading the visit: I had established friends and a good boyfriend--all back here; but the trip happened anyway. And the shocker happened anyway.
It was as if life has never stopped. We were all still the best of friends, shared everything and told each other all. It was as if I've never left. As if the bookmark was taken out and the story of my life continued. It was very bizarre: I was not only having the time of my life with my old friends, but I was also making a ton of new ones. We were all so different, but our common link was our childhood together: our connection. We were now all 15, 16, 17, or even 18, but our bond still lasted. We passed over the hardest years of teenage angst and have come out victorious. Not to imply that they all separated too, and my visit was like one giant reunion. No, they were all still friends, still living together, and hanging out often. But as they kept telling me, "It has never been the same since you left, we've never really been able to recover that blow to all our friendships." And it was one GIANT blow. We were being seperated until forever. But now that we were together again, as a whole (like it was nearly 5 years before) the storyline of our friendships continued right where it left off. The bookmark, simply, has been lifted.
Time and time again, however, I got to thinking about our unusual situation: what would have happened if I haven't moved across the pond? Would we still be friends? Would we still be having these conversations? Would we still be us? Sadly, I concluded that the answer to all these questions would probably be no.

Why?

How often do friends fight with each other? How often, as a teenager, do people completely change their group of friends? Very, very often. We are accustomed to the fact that if something goes wrong in a friendship, we just move on to someone new. And that's exactly what would have happened with us. But due to the lack of contact for pretty much the full 5 years, we haven't been able to have those fights and disagreements. We have always stayed on friendly terms, because there was no reason to do otherwise. Relationships got, literally, bookmarked as they were. Crushes were frozen in time, memories embedded forever, little fights and arguments never forgotten. But that is only possible with total disconnection. As the only friends I have in Poland, they are the ones I turn to for advice, and what reason do they have, not to give it to me?

These forgotten, bookmarked friendships--schoolmates, childhood friends--will remind that way forever. As long as I am not a part of their immediate life and they aren't present in mine: it is as if we are living in to different worlds. Thus, this vortex of memories is created and forever upheld. The forgotten friends.