CI, VA

The water may have been too cold for swimming, and the breeze coming off the ocean may have kept us from laying out too long, but damn, if this weekend didn't bring some sunshine back into my life.

That warmth from an old friend who knew you back-when...back when, exactly? We were best friends for seven years before the high school cliches took hold of us. She knew me before I started living my life for everyone else.

Back when we would dance around her bedroom singing along to Shania Twain holding hairbrushes to our awkward, giggling, smiling mouths.
Back when we would have sleepovers every weekend, wake up in the morning to her dad's chocolate chip waffles, and then fall right back asleep.
Back when we could spout horse facts a million-miles-a-minute.
Back when the only thing that really mattered was that night's episode of Figure It Out.
Back before we found boys, before we started fighting with our parents, before we moved out on our own and had to get by in this life that doesn't always leave room for what-once-was...

but it felt great to get back to that place. Back when.