I had a video call with an old friend in France, with whom I haven't spoken for about 20 years...

[NNadir]

...or more. We reconnected on Linkedin and made arrangements to connect by Zoom.

He married a German woman, but confessed he forgot how to speak German (as have I).

He was a excellent business associate - we worked together on many important projects in drug development. Beyond business grew into a great friend; I actually had a jam session with his band when they were playing American rock songs in a Paris bar filled with Japanese tourists (who knew all the songs). Somehow though, we fell out of touch.

It was really a joyous moment to connect again; just like all these years hadn't passed, that my sons, babies when we last met, were not men, and his daughter, for whom we bought (unavailable in France back then) baby socks wasn't now a 27 year old woman, his younger son now an IT professional.

It was a wonderful morning; very happy.

I should visit France again sometime before I die. I loved that country.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. How wonderful that you connected, my dear NNadir@

Such reunions are both rare (I suspect) and glorious.

I hope you can return to France soon. It's an amazingly beautiful and historical country. There is so much to see!

And do keep talking to your old friend!

[NNadir]

3. Thank you Peg. We both agreed to do better at staying in touch, now that we're gray old men.

In the times we were working together, I traveled to France frequently, four or five times a year; one year I recall going six times.

They were always business trips, but in the off hours, I really had time to appreciate the country and the culture. I haven't been back for maybe 15 years; I never gone outside of business trips, but I should.

I recall the friend in question once took me to the Louvre (I went many times on my own) and he had a fascination with the furniture displayed there.

In return, I took him to the Met in New York. He liked the furniture displays there too. (They don't do much for me; I'm a painting and sculpture kind of guy.)

My sons still laugh whenever we go to a museum together when I mimic him with a faux French accent, realizing that the Met was a great museum.

I'm very glad we reconnected. I didn't know what we might say to each other, but when we connected it was like we'd last seen each other last week and were resuming the conversation we were having then.

[Karadeniz]

2. Happy for you !!!!