The Wine Party

Last weekend I went to a wine tasting party at a friend's house. It was a delightful crowd in a beautiful house located in a hip part of town, I had a pretty good time, but I didn't know these people very well and they talked about subjects to which I could only marginally relate.

One such topic came up, and I have been thinking about it. Many of these professionals are on "Linked in," the business networking site, and they spoke with amazement as the tool helped them reconnect with old friends from grade school. How wonderful! "He knew all my friends, but I don't remember him exactly."

It was a fine story, but I just had to wonder - what makes you think I would actually want to connect with old "friends" from grade school? The few with whom I keep a connection via other means are really the only ones I want to keep up with. To me, the others don't matter.

Some people are very sentimental about their growing years and how happy it was, how secure it was, how free they were, etc. My growing years were fine, but they weren't idyllic and all of the delusion in the world won't change it. Most of the children with whom I was friends have moved on and forgotten me - or at least I wasn't important enough to keep up with. Perhaps staying in one place would have helped maintain those connections. I was not raised to stay in one place, and I did not.

The other topic they rehashed was their days at college. They all went to a big college in the midwest.

I hate when people do that. I think it's rude when your whole crowd is not from the same place, so my husband and I could not contribute. They don't know they're doing it, though, and I could have changed the subject.

Eh, enough complaints. I am blessed that I have friends who invite me to their social events. I am blessed that I have friends here. I enjoyed being in a group of people who are child-free. I didn't have to hear about whose kid was sick, whose kid is a math genius, whose kid is the next tennis star of the Olympics, etc.