The Distant Sound of Zoom (2)

In which our Hero keeps thinking of cold tomato soup

By rights there isn’t entirely enough story here to justify an entry. But the recurring theme of my quiet on OD would be the inexplicable reaching out of women from my past. Even isn’t strictly my past, but when you haven’t seen someone one in a few years, it seems to logically count, especially when she isn’t the only one to make contact.

Ire was another one of the girls at geek camp all those years ago. At an orientation session before the camp, her mother and my mother saw each other’s names and remembered each other from their old workplace. Since they must be friends, then clearly their kids could be pushed together so they would have someone who had their back while away at camp.

And I had a crush on her. Not a romantic one, if that makes any sense. Well, maybe a little bit romantic, I might have overcome my tremendous shyness to chase her if she’d shown that kind of interest. But without any expectation of a “relationship” relationship, I had a crush on her. She has a pretty girl, with flowing hair and a mysterious smile. She was kind and confident and fun to spend time with. And she knew about my crush, and didn’t object, or mislead, or take advantage.

Despite that she was somewhat *the enemy* as she was a member of a different one of the four “houses” competing for primacy (Cleverly named houses 1, 2, 3 and 4, because we’re engineers and Slytherin had not only not been invented yet but also would have still been a remarkably stupid and uninspired name), so we only socialized occasionaly, at mealtimes or during the class sessions.

After the camp, she was local for a while, and we’d visit with each other. Sometimes as part of a larger party, sometimes just the two of us. She went off to school and when she was home, we’d occasionally meet to catch up, and then life took her to California where I’d thought she’d settled down.

Along the way, hilariously awkward, one of our mothers figured out that the friend from work was not the other mother. So in the end, all we had between us was her charm.

So imagine my bewilderment when I got contacted on LinkedIn by this person with a vaguely familiar name and a face that I can’t quite place but I know this person.. um.. umm…

Oh, it’s….!!

Anyway, she’s back in Canada now, though in a different corner of this province (that dwarfs Texas), so I don’t know I’d be having coffee with her any time soon. And this is where I am a little uncertain about how to treat this. Because yes, I remember her fondly, and I enjoyed her company, but I don’t feel like there’s a big unresolved mystery. We were friends, but as much by accident as anything else. And if we were better friends, wouldn’t we have done a better job of staying in touch?

I don’t see harm in saying hello. But it seems an almost futile contact. Why bother