Have we met before?

Sometimes I'm shocked by my ignorance. Allow me to explain. Tonight I went and met a friend of mine from high school at a seedy little bar I'd driven by countless times during my youth and never looked at twice. It was one of those places that you never give a second glance and never believe that anyone actually goes to. Well, apparently people do. Not only do people go to this bar, people I know and am friends with meet up at this bar. Interesting. Anyways it's close to my house and I hadn't seen this friend in a while so when she called me to tell me where to meet her the conversation happened something like this:

High school friend: Hey meet me at blah blah blah bar.
Me: What? Isn't that the name of a gas station?
HSF: Haha, I know! That's what I thought too. No it's right on the corner intersection
Me: Oh yeah that place. So you guys are really there, I mean you're going now? I'm not going to be the only one there?

Heaven forbid I go to this bar and show up alone & have an awkward moment with the bartender...no no, I couldn't allow that to happen. So I go and am surprised to find the parking lot is almost completely full. Interesting, very interesting. Anyways this story is really going nowhere and is nothing exciting. I saw my friend, she's still the same which is awesome, we talked and caught up, and then I smelled like smoke when I left which is the general protocol for meeting old friends from high school at bars in Milwaukee. Moral of the story: there are places out there that look like places no one goes to and you'd probably never want to but you'll meet high school friends for a drink at the holidays, you'll probably leave smelling like smoke, & wonder how often your friends go to these bars.

...

News from abroad! On Christmas day I was surprised by an email I got from one of my most lovely friends in Paris. She was the assistant teacher for the theatre class I took when I had studied abroad & we got along great. She's my age and is a student living in Paris, bien sûr she's French. I always regretted not maintaining contact with her because she was awesome, totally the type of person you can joke around & have fun doing anything. The type of person everyone wants to be friends with because she's so cool but like most things French, it's hush hush and understated. I don't think she or anyone else realizes just how awesome she is. Anyways I'm glad to have her as a friend and happy that we've reconnected. Hopefully when I return to France we'll be able to hang out and catch up. And that is that. A bientôt!