I've recently returned to my hometown in New Jersey after spending the better part of a year on the west coast and I believe I'm experiencing what is referred to as "reverse culture shock." I have been finding it hard to relate to my old friends and vice versa. It is just that so much has happened in that one year that I can't really express how my life has changed in a short enough story that it will keep their interest and actually continue to listen to my stories.
The other day I went to a party where I saw a number of kids who used to hang out with and I was nervous to see them as I drove there. I was initially nervous because I was thinking about how I was going to be seeing a bunch of people who I wasn't really close with, but who i enjoyed spending time with, and I was worried that it might get awkward if I couldn't relate to all the things they were talking about and end up not really a part of the party. The aspect that I thought would be most awkward about this was the fact that I could relate to these people in the past and that if I couldn't anymore I would feel out of place. But I came to a realization before I arrived:
The fact that I have had all these experiences and they in turn have been through a lot throughout that same length of time means that both they and I are now completely different people than the ones we knew a year ago. Thus, I wasn't going to a party filled with people I kind of knew, I was going to a party with complete strangers.
And I found comfort in this.
