surprise

Today, Friday, 10 feb, in the afternoon, I had the most pleasant surprise of the year.
I'm sleeping in bed - doctors' orders, to be obeted after all. the phone rings, and a friend says, 'guess who's sitting beside me right now in Patna Women's College, and if you can't , you forfeit your soon to be procured new laptop. Well! you wake up a sick man from a well-deserved afternoon's sleep and want him to play guessing games... will women neverlearn??... anyway I forfeited the laptop-to-be with no fight.
And then wafts a voive through the ether, a familiar voice that's so warm and well known, but for the life of me, this is the sound of a woman I just can't place... and then... the revelation... it's Usha Lachungpa, well known wildlife conservationist from Sikkim.... my spiritual home.... heard after eleven years... and she says....
"I've grown old now [absolutely impossible.. that woild make me ancient... she says, little Minla who played in your arms is now in College [when did that happen?] and younger daugher Yuheena is finishing secondary school ... I'm so happy, 'cos Usha and her husband Ganden are more than friends, they're family.
Tomorrow, perhaps, when she gets time off her official engagements, she'll visit me... and I can't wait to hear all the news....
Which gets me thinking of the question, I'm trying despeartely to answer. Why is it that life sometimes overwhelms you, gives you too much to swipe at, that years pass and you suddenly realize you haven't even spoken to your closest friends in years? I'm one of the lucky ones... I'm getting another chance to be a friend, and you bet I'm not gonna screw it up this time.