Comrades

To adults, kids lives sometimes seem simplistic, but our own memories prove otherwise.  The very fact that I'm able to interact with childhood friends with whom I haven't had any meaningful contact since we were eleven years old indicates a level of sophistication we sometimes forget. 

Our lives are narrower in scope at that age, but still dominated by playground politics and social maneuvering.  We can spot weaknesses and strengths, and experience a whole range of passions.

I still think of a certain childhood friend as a comrade - one of my first friends outside of my immediate neighborhood - the first friendship based wholly on shared interests and an attitude about the world around us. When I saw him again over thirty years later, we not only shared memories, but I found that I recognized his personality.  I knew his degree of sensitivity, and the sense of humor that likely formed our early friendship.

As I reconnect with other early childhood friends on Facebook - and I've now reconnected with most of them - I recall that kid that I once was - and now realize that I'm fundamentally still that same kid.