How can one know when beginning to interact with a new friend whether the relationship will stand the test of time? Friends met in elementary school still keep in touch while best friends from high school cannot be located, or once found, briefly meet and disappear again. Sometimes the connection is instant and thoughts seem to merge and erupt from our mouths simultaniously. One friend from college has filtered in and out of my life never being far from my thoughts. Our lives have strangely paralled and when we talk, the years between seem to melt away or merge. Living on the same dormitory floor in college, we met our freshman year. Many of my "closest" friends from that era have only spurred mild interest as our lives have progressed to full adulthood. Gail has always lifted my spirits with a phone call no matter which of us intiated the conversation. During our mutual exile to the south, we often would spend an hour or more in phone conversation. In those days, the phone bill reflected a substantial charge for such indulgence. Still the cost was much less than the hour and a half to drive the distance for face time. When she moved with her family back to our hometown, we briefly lost touch. Our moves happened through the years and our children grew to adolescence. She contacted Ol' Abner's employer in an effort to find us without success. On a whim, I picked up a phone book from our old town and found her listed. I called and left a message on the answering machine for her as well as another mutual friend. The result was an hour long phone call with both of them via Gail's mobile phone (yes, we still called them "mobile phones" then). Again we continued to keep in touch intermittently by telephone. Our children were growing up and we were attempting to wind down careers. At some point, Ol' Abner was helping plan a company function with the manager in the old hometown. Customers and family were being invited to the event at the amphitheatre in the canyon. I went along with Ol' Abner and just before the production began, in came the guests scheduled to occupy the two seats next to us. Such a thrill to see my dear friend! As we chattered, a lady behind us grumped that it was so rude to talk as the show began. Oh yes, it had been fourteen years since our last visit and already we were in trouble. It was at that meeting that an epiphany occurred. Gail must stretch to reach a height of 4'11" and I stand at a full six feet. Standing in the patio at intermission, I looked down and thought " I didn't remember that she was so short" just as she commented that she didn't remember that I was so tall. It was twenty years into our friendship, and our thoughts still erupted in sync.