Babies are a bonding experience.

I had lunch with my old friend B today. By old I mean "old times" rather than "senior citizen" -- thought I'd clear that up. Of course, I've established before that I like the older folks so I guess it doesn't really matter. Anyway, my point. A little background:

K and I met B in college. B married D. B and D moved away. We lost track of B and D. B and D had a son. B and D decided to move back to FTC. B and D (unknowingly) bought the house next door to us. R and K and B and D and their son, G, became great friends. We ate chile rellenos and salad with chunks of apple in it. We did home improvement projects. R and K had baby C. B and D had baby E. Baby E had a really rough time. He almost didn't make it. A few times. B and D became superheroes. E made it. Then, R and K bought a new house. Then B and D moved out of town. We lost touch again. R and K had little R. B and D adopted little B. R and K had baby A. Time passed.

And today, there B and I were, several years after our last meeting (keeping in touch via Christmas cards and the occasional email), sitting at a sticky table at Avo's, enjoying our lunch and enjoying the easy conversation. There were no awkward silences, no judgments, and it felt like no time had passed. I really do believe that once you've fed your babies together a few times you're friends. Once you've been through a really intense and scary first year of a kid's life together (mind you, our role was MINIMAL compared to everything they had to endure -- witnessing it was intense enough) you're bonded forever.

Great to see you again, B! Hugs to those (way too grown up) kids and (probably still not quite grown up -- phew!) husband of yours.