Short Hand:

In the past several weeks I have visited or been visited by the following people that have been in my life for many years (even decades):

• A college friend, she was a sorority sister, and an old housemate, a partner in crimes, and in our college days we even shared some of the same crushes (and kissed many of the same boys). She was in Chicago for a few days for business. We met first for brunch on a Sunday and then for drinks on a Tuesday night. She introduced to me her colleagues as one of her dearest friends. I thought that was a lovely phrase.

• My Little Brother, sometimes referred to as my Baby Brother. This is an endearment that he accepts with a grain of salt and a bit of humor. We are eleven years a part in age but we are very close and actually enjoy spending time together. Although, we have discovered (on many occasions) that there is a limit to the amount of intense time we can spend together. Seven to eight days seems to be the magic number. Like milk, we turn around the 8th day. My calling him my baby brother causes a great deal of amusement to people. He is 6'2" and while he is twenty-two years old, he looks more like he is in his mid to late twenties. There's nothing baby about him. I do however like to tell people that I used to have to change his diapers. I'm not sure if he finds this amusing or annoying, but what the hell, I am the older sibling.

• My best friend and all of the friends she considers to be close enough that she would invite them to her bachlorette party. With a friend I threw her a bridal shower and a bachlorette party. I've known KW for twenties years now. We met in our ninth grade drama class. We didn't get to be close friends until our senior year in high school and then proceeded to become best friends. We were roommates in the DC area for three years after college, and then she moved to New York, and I followed a year later. I truly enjoyed the parties for her because I am in a unique situation in that her friends are my friends and I know the people in all areas of her life. I had the joy of throwing her a party with some of my best friends and favorite people.

What I noticed in these recent encounters with old friends and family is that there is a short hand that is unique to old friendships. With just one word you can have an entire conversation. When you've shared a bathroom with a person, had to fight with them over who's turn it was to wash the dishes, or when someone was there when you were drunk making a true ass of yourself, when someone knew you when you were nineteen as well as when you were twenty-nine, even if you have not seen them in three years, in the first three seconds of seeing each other, it's like they've always been sitting next to you.

It's the short hand conversations that I miss. I love my new Chicago friends. And finally the new-ness is wearing off. It's nice when a friendship stops being about getting to know a person to being what the friendship is and will always be.