MerrinDonahue.com

I’ve been emailing an old friend this week. I’ve kept up with her through other friends, but I haven’t really talked to her in a pretty long time. I’m sure you have friends like that, right? The kind you keep tabs on, just to make sure they’re okay, and you always tell yourself you’ll get around to sending a note or picking up the phone, and before you know it, years have passed?
Anyway, so I’ve been keeping up with this person for the last 5 years or so, and you can imagine how much I was troubled to hear that she’s spent the bulk of that time in the Middle East. Iraq, to be more specific. Baghdad to be precise. I’ve known for a while that she was there, and I even knew she was there last year. So why did it take me so long just to send a little email?
The point of this is, of course, that I did send that email, and it feels wonderful to hear her “voice”. She’s the only person I know who can say this, when chastised for a delay in response:
“sorry love. was up in Kurdistan and the email is wily indeed up there…my apologies.”
Even better news is that she’ll be returning to us here in Texas, at least for a couple of days, later this week. It will be nice to know she’s completely safe, if only for a little while.
The lesson in all of this, obviously, is to stop waiting for something huge to happen before you touch base with everybody you’ve been meaning to. Now, go out there and reach out to an old friend. I’ll be here, responding to my full Inbox.