There are people we are friends with for one major but often maligned or overlooked reason: because we were friends with them some time back. At one stage, we had a lot in common – we sat together in Maths class; shared a bizarre and intemperate boss during an internship – but life has taken us on radically different courses. If we were introduced today, we’d think each other pleasant enough but would never get close.
Yet it can be hugely helpful and very redemptive to catch up with these people, with a one-on-one dinner, a walk in the woods or the occasional email. Old friends function as conduits to earlier versions of ourselves that are inaccessible day-to-day but that contain hugely important insights; they act as guardians of memories on which we might otherwise have a damagingly tenuous hold…
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