What a difference a year makes.  Just a little over a year ago, E. resided on the list of “boyfriends who have done me wrong”.  Today, surprisingly, you would find him ensconced upon a new list entitled “Friends”.  It’s a short list and it requires my trust, loyalty and faith to make the grade.  Just over a year ago, I was shocked to find E’s initial email sitting in my inbox, so much so that my fingers turned ice-cold.  Today, his emails are some of the first to be opened – a respite from the sea of work emails that overflow from my inbox.  Sometimes they’re funny, sometimes beautifully written descriptions of the simplest of things, and sometimes just a brief word or two to say “hi”.  I’m astonished to find that, a year after his first email, we are still conversing.   Like other friends I’ve “reconnected” with, I fully expected us to exchange a few “social networking” words and then be on our separate ways.  Instead, E has become a trusted sounding board.  He was my #1 champion when I decided to attend culinary school, he gives me honest feedback (at least I think he’s being honest) when I solicit his opinion and he’s not afraid to call “Bull Shit” when I’m not being honest with myself. 

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that I sometime muse about one’s personal “story” – that script that we’ve written for our “character”:  I was an abused child so now I am destined to do X, Y and Z the rest of my life.  I’m also a firm believer that we can re-write our story, that we can change how we see things.  It seems that E and I have managed to do that – change our story.  I’m very happy to now be able to call him my friend.  What a difference a year makes.