An old friend called me tonight and the first thing I thought of was the last time we spoke, the last time we said goodbye … the last time I said goodbye to anyone I love(d). But what about those spontaneous, petrifying, exhilarating, life altering moments that not only introduce us to new faces and names, but provide us with bosom-buddies, soul mates, adversaries, mentors, or heroes.

Disney paints a pretty goodbye – unrealistic though the happily ever after may be, at least the first encounters are usually memorable. It’s no wonder I (and others of my generation) hope for a life filled with storybook moments. But these days, nobody ever remembers the hellos.

So I thought I’d give it a try and see how accurately I remember Tyler’s ‘hello’.

Sophomore year I somehow ended up between the cafeteria and one of the girls’ dorms catching up with a few friends who were helping orientate some of the passing by freshmen. That’s when and where I met Rachel, who would end up being one of my dearest friends … who called me this Christmas to let me know she’d just gotten engaged! Rachel was born in England and moved to Philadelphia when she was younger. Somewhere along the way she had befriended a couple of my closest friends, one of whom happened to be rooming with a tall, gangly, curly headed, energetic Freshman from New Jersey – Tyler. I’m pretty sure I met Tyler that same day, while exploring the dorm – seeking to reunite with friends from the year before. 

I say I’m pretty sure because as memorable as Tyler is, there are so many moments I look back on with amazement. Whether helping him sneak into someone’s room to decorate a Christmas tree, watching him sing John Mayer on stage in front of hundreds of people, packing up his room with friends while he sat on his bed wrapped up in a blanket coughing, giving him advice, listening to him talk to students about faith and scripture, or driving around campus with the windows down while he screamed out a Britney Spears song, we never talked about our ‘hello’ or thought about the goodbye … and unlike a Disney movie, we may not get one. The boy who was bigger than life and made his presence known, gradually subdued and became the articulate, patient, disciplined, inspirational young man who called me this evening, and maybe it’s our shared faith or maybe we’re just kindred spirits, but I hope that if we ever are lucky enough to have a goodbye that it will just be a way of looking forward to our next ‘hello’.

Life has a way of spreading loved ones apart and pushing us further away from one another, but just when you least expect it, you crash into one another again on the street, stand next to them at a wedding, call them for a shoulder to cry on or voice to keep you awake on a long drive home, or think about them out of the blue and smile … wondering how you’ll ever meet anyone like that again. But then – you just do.