I was told to write about friendship, and how with some friends, you can go years without seeing them and then when you do again it just continues in a nice way.

My whole life is like a TV show and absences are like commercials, because I have a ridiculous memory and generally pick back up where we left off.

That sounds great, doesn’t it? Only I’m usually the only one who remembers what we were talking about standing outside the dining hall in 1987, that day it was supposed to snow but it didn’t and we were all wearing rubber boots for nothing after all, so what I say doesn’t make any sense to anybody but me.

So imagine my shock when I hadn’t seen my friend Sheila for something like 28 years and I was sitting in her kitchen and out of nowhere I said, “Did you ever find that peacoat?” and she, without even looking up said, “No! I did not!”

Because that practically never happens to me.

I’m telling you all that to tell you this: I am having lunch with my friend Julie on Monday. I haven’t seen her in thirty years. We decided to come as we are and it’ll all be okay, since losing weight and getting lower cholesterol between now and then is too much of a hassle.