Catching up with a lost friend in Leuven
Last year in December, we visited Sinterklaas at Jan's work. Much to my surprise I ran into a friend there whome I've not seen in the last 12 years (and the years before were also rather sporadic). We met in a Christian youth group over 25 years ago in Ghent and attended the World Jubilee in Rome in 2000 together were we become good friends.
In the first years we often met but then we both got married, moved , bought a house and got children and as life goes, our contact got reduced to a small Christmas card or whatsapp greeting at best. But at Sinterklaas it really felt a good surprise to see each other again. And we both felt the need to catch-up but we ran out of time. We said goodbye with the good intention to meet-up again.
And we did at the end of the Easter vacation. She took the train to Leuven and we went out for a lunch and then enjoyed the sun some more at another terrace before she had to jump on the train again. There was a lot of catching up on the events that had taken up our lives in the last 25 years including open and transparent discussions of our challenges. It didn't feel like we had grown apart for so long. And while I doubt we'll meet very regularly from now, I do trust we'll stay a part in each other's lives!
In the first years we often met but then we both got married, moved , bought a house and got children and as life goes, our contact got reduced to a small Christmas card or whatsapp greeting at best. But at Sinterklaas it really felt a good surprise to see each other again. And we both felt the need to catch-up but we ran out of time. We said goodbye with the good intention to meet-up again.
And we did at the end of the Easter vacation. She took the train to Leuven and we went out for a lunch and then enjoyed the sun some more at another terrace before she had to jump on the train again. There was a lot of catching up on the events that had taken up our lives in the last 25 years including open and transparent discussions of our challenges. It didn't feel like we had grown apart for so long. And while I doubt we'll meet very regularly from now, I do trust we'll stay a part in each other's lives!

This pigeon and his brother were some of the most assertive annoying onces that I've seen before on a terrace. All our shoo-ing didn't stop them from jumping on our table right under our nose over and over again.


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