A sad lesson learned

Have any of you every reconnected with someone you haven't spoken to in years? How did that go for you?

As I was cooking tonight, my home phone rang, which is a rarity I assure you. Fully expecting to be greeted with the boat horn altering me the ship was leaving without me, or the obligatory spam call, I was shocked to hear an old friend's voice on the other end. Turns out he was in the area, and wanted to drop by to say hello.

Okay, a little background here so you can understand things better. This friend and I used to hang out together a lot in my younger days.We would go to karaoke or to the bar together most weekends. He was a good friend, but little stifling. He had this rule, if I went out with him, no matter if my boyfriend showed up, he expected me to leave with him. Eventually, his controlling nature began to cause issues between us, and we stopped talking. When my mother passed away, a mutual friend informed him, and he refused to show up for the funeral.

He called me around Christmas last year, after losing his own mother, to apologize for the way things ended and we tentatively made up. We don't speak much, so when he called me up, I agreed to see him and finally bury the hatchet. Now, we haven't talked in over 6 years, so when he showed up and was exactly the same I was shocked. I'm not the same person I was 6 years ago, not by a long shot. Heck, I'm not really the same person I was two weeks ago. When he told the same stories and spoke the same way, a little too blunt for my liking, I couldn't help but wince.

Why can some people change and grow, while others remain the same? The lesson learned? Touching your past isn't always as sweet as the memories.