I know it seems like I’ve been counting down the days these last couple of weeks, but the closer I get to my graduation (only six more months), the more reflective I seem to become. This week, as I was making a necessary run to Wal-Mart (we won’t get into the details), I found myself literally cart-to-cart with my past.

I’ve discovered the world really is much smaller than it’s made out to be. And from my experience and the experience of those around me, Wal-Mart seems to be the meeting place of choice for people who have long been estranged from one another – not that they choose to meet there, mind you, but Fate has a way of putting someone in the same aisle as another. Strange how things work out.

Strange, also, to refer to a little less than five years ago as my “past.” Is a 22-year-old entitled to a past? Isn’t that something that’s supposed to come with age?

The “past” I encountered came in the form of a fellow student of mine from high school. Our acquaintance had only been slight, at least by my interpretations, but what we often don’t realize, I think, is that the people whom we think didn’t know us often knew us better than we knew ourselves.

High school, for many of us, wasn’t the most pleasant experience, but we got through it somehow. We often wonder how we got through it, but as we build new memories, it often doesn’t matter anymore. We learn to forgive. This girl had seen my experience from a completely different perspective and the sympathy she expressed toward me now was touching.

These are the friendships we missed out on, for whatever reason. When we get to college, we often lose touch with the people who had helped sustain us through those four turbulent years. And it isn’t that we don’t have the utmost intention of remaining friends with them – it just so happens that some of them drift away from us. It’s a natural occurrence and one I’m sure can be accounted for by most people. So when we meet up with them again, even after only a few years, it takes us off guard.

Many of us aren’t prepared for the changes that come with adulthood, and this can be a catalyst for changes in relationships as well. Friendships in high school are built more on a superficial basis – what you have in common, who they’re friends with, etc. When we get to college, our priorities change, and because of time restraints and responsibility, we find we need relationships that can stand the test of time rather than those existing merely for entertainment purposes. Therefore, the qualities we look for in a friend change dramatically, too.

Now, at Wal-Mart, I found myself talking up a storm with someone I had never actually had a real conversation with before. She was already a graduate of NIU and was in the process of looking for a job. And even though we are the same age, it seemed as if she had seen and experienced so much more and had the wisdom to show for it. The advice she gave was honest and shrewd, and I found myself truly captivated by her personality – and unsure why I had never made the attempt at becoming friends with her. It felt like we had been friends for a long time already.

Life is full of chances. Some you take, some you don’t – but Fate certainly doesn’t bring people together for no reason.