Another Old Lang Syne

Dan Fogelberg died today. Aaaww~! Sent me off in search of this song, which is so beautiful and sad.

Met my old lover in the grocery store
The snow was falling Christmas Eve
I stole behind her in the frozen foods
And I touched her on the sleeve
She didn't recognize the face at first
But then her eyes flew open wide
She went to hug me and she spilled her purse
And we laughed until we cried.

And because I always associate unnatural meaning to minor synchronicities in my life, as I hummed this lovely song in my head tonight I thought of a phone call received today--not an old lover but someone I loved and still care for (always) as a dear friend. It was so nice to hear his voice; he sounded well and happy.

We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to now
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness
But neither one knew how.

The things that bring old lovers back to our attention, what an odd sensation. Boredom, in this case--when pirates get bored, I guess they like to revisit sites of previous pillage and plunder where they particularly enjoyed themselves, islands where the buried treasure was never uncovered.

The beer was empty and our tongues were tired
And running out of things to say
She gave a kiss to me as I got out
And I watched her drive away.

When you talk to someone you've missed, does your mind start spinning off all the questions you'd wanted to ask but never got the chance? Mine did. Not serious questions, necessarily, but silly questions like, "Do you dream in other languages?" or curious questions like "Who was the beautiful green eyed woman in the photograph?" Fortunately the call was cut short before I could ask much, and perhaps I'm fortunate that he didn't ask much either.

God bless the boredom that prompted the phone call. Though the conversation was short and a little awkward, it was nice to know we're still friends.

Just for a moment I was back at school
And felt that old familiar pain
And as I turned to make my way back home
The snow turned into rain --