Nostalgia returns

My college roommate called me today, totally out of the blue and just to say hi. It was the exclamation point on a general nostalgic feeling I've had lately. My friends from high school (14 years) have dwindled to 1, maybe 2; my friends from college (9 years) have dwindled to 5 or so. J is a friend I hope to retain until the end of our lives, but we still seem to let months come between phone calls. The different paths our lives have taken since we moved together to Baltimore 9 years ago are pretty striking. Then, we were both 1st year teachers in Baltimore City, 23 years old and fresh with teaching degrees from Michigan State University. I was placed in a functional high school with kids who mostly care and want to be there; he was placed in a rowdy middle school and was forced to teach out of a trailer. He lasted just a few weeks before succumbing to the feeling that he wasn't doing any good and the students would be better off without him; he quit and became a substitute teacher in the county, and after the year moved to Florida to teach. He quickly got a girl pregnant (the kid is now in kindergarten), eventually moved to Alabama, and now is a truck delivery driver. He taught through last year, but couldn't live on a teacher's salary, which down there is about half of what mine is in Baltimore. He doesn't own a house yet, but has a son, who he shared custody of with his ex-girlfriend.

I've visited him just once since he moved down South, and he hasn't visited Baltimore since he moved. We talk a few times a year, and unfortunately lately our conversations have turned more argumentative, mostly about politics. We didn't bring any of that up today, and just caught up; hopefully next time we talk will be less than six months from now.

The last couple of weeks have been full of things like this: Wally Pleasant's "Restless College Years" has come up at least three times on my I-Pod, randomly; I got an apology email from someone I have a complex history with; the email was nice, and, while I haven't responded to her yet, I might; I rejoined my former gym, Bally's ($99 for 12 months, and even though I'm still part of the Y and the Y has a great location for me, Bally's has better equipment and is less teeming with kids), and I love returning to my old "stomping grounds" of Towson.