Is Auld Lang Syne Alive Today?
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| “It’s a Wonderful Life” is a great holiday tradition. Is it anything more? Photo courtesy of 1Rod at Flickr |
An interesting event happened the other day. It turns out that an old friend of mine - a female friend - lives in a town I frequently visit. The person who serendipitously informed me of this also gave me the old friend’s phone number. The question is, what do I do with it?
This wasn’t a romantic relationship, although it certainly had all the makings for one, and our parting wasn’t unfriendly by any means. On the other hand, we never really said goodbye and the termination of the relationship probably wasn’t on either of our preferred terms. It was kind of sad really.
She’s married and has a child, possibly more than one, and we haven’t spoken in about 15 years. A phone call out of the blue during the holidays would certainly be a shock for her; just as getting this information was for me. She’s also from a different culture that might regard such a call as being rude or intrusive.
Still, it would be great to hear how she is and maybe even to get some closure on an interlude long ago in the dusty past. If the call is regarded as rude, it’s not like I’d be losing much, but I still don’t wish to cause anyone harm. There’s certainly no animosity on my behalf; I’m just curious about how life worked out for her. I’d like to be able to just say, “Hi. I’m okay. I hope you are too.”
The holidays are a great time for reflection on the past and the relationships we’ve left behind, so perhaps this unusual piece of luck happened at the right time. Or maybe, auld lang syne (which means, “for the good old times”) has lost its power in this day and age.
I play the favorite film “It’s a Wonderful Life” every holiday season in my household. The highly sentimental film that closes with a hearty rendition of the song Auld Lang Syne is something we all want to believe in, but is it relevant today? Is the past really just better forgotten?
I invite the readers of Writer to the WorldTM to comment. There are almost 9,000 regular readers now, and although you’re not the most loquacious bunch, you obviously all have great taste. New readers are obviously welcome to comment too. What would you do if you were I? To call or not to call - that is the question.
Answers before Sunday morning have a much better chance of being influential in the outcome. Just an FYI.
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Or maybe she’s chocolate challenged? I’ll let her field that one.
- given the time, there are a billion different outcomes and probabilities for success/failure. I believe as long as there’ positive and negative, there are only 2, equal outcomes - so go for it, i say. 
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Put yourself out of your misery, my friend, and call the woman. She probably wonders about you as well and would enjoy hearing from you. As for the cultural differences, if she can’t get on board with American culture after all this time and deems a call out of the blue anything but surprising yet wonderful, then I’d have to say it would have never worked anyway. Maybe you’re just too different.
You gain nothing by speculating. Make the move. At minimum you need closure, but if your intentions are good then you shouldn’t feel uneasy about it. Just do it. The holidays are a perfect time to reconnect with old friends. One more conversation “for the good old times” surely wouldn’t hurt.
Alternatively, just send her a box of chocolates. You have her zip code, right?