I got a phone call tonight from my friend, Brian. Brian lives about an hour from me, but we rarely see each other. We’ve got busy lives. It just doesn’t happen. But for some reason, tonight he had a little extra time before heading to the airport to pick up his fiancée, Mel. We met for dinner at Jason’s Deli.

Do you have those friends – the ones that fill you so full of laughter that the world stops? We filled the room with laughter tonight. Actually, that might’ve just been me; I laugh loud. But we told stories and caught up on everything we’ve been missing. I caught him saying, “You still do that!” laughing at my laugh, noting this silly thing we say when we’re leaving and hand movement that goes with it.

I like nights like tonight, when for forty minutes in an almost empty restaurant, the world will stop to see an old friend. The bills will get paid. The phone calls can be returned. The emails will wait. All that matters, for just a little while, is your very close friend – the one that, no matter how much time or space has been between you, seems to still know things about you that even you yourself don’t understand.