What do you say about your friends?

Only a handful carry that title in my universe, and I see them far too seldom.

A few years ago, I managed to track down an old friend, one I've known since we were 11. We're both coming up on 31, so we've been around the proverbial block a few times. The last time I was home for Christmas, I stopped by his house with my mom and my sister to visit with my friend and his mother, and to meet his fiancee. All seemed well, though our visit was far too short. Isn't that always the way when visiting old friends? Too bad, that.

A couple of months later, and then again last week (which is what brings me to this post, as I've been mulling over it for a while) my mom reminded me of that visit, and asked me what my impression had been of my friend's fiance, now wife and mother of their adorable one year old. (how's that for a run-on? lol.)

I said she'd seemed nice, they seemed very happy, I was happy for them, but other than that, nothing specific. Why?

Then she tells me that she got a really strange vibe from her, very hostile towards me. That said, that one visit is the first and only time we've met, so we're not what you could even term acquaintances.

I told mom that I didn't get that vibe, but I do recall she didn't seem overly enthusiastic to have me there, or that I knew my friend's family, or that we laughed about shared childhood mishaps. Like our first "date", at 12, when my mom took us to the new mall, and his mom picked us up -- with, unbeknownst to her, his father's 357 magnum on the backseat. Oops. :) That's always a fun trip down memory lane.

Anyway. I finally got a cell phone manufactured within recent memory, and sent an email to my friends an family to tell them to scratch the old one.

No response.

I haven't received an email from him in months, which is odd, and I noticed last week that his MySpace page is gone. Hm. Could be he got bored with that admittedly juvenile, yet fun, waste of time. Could be he's just busy and doesn't have time for email any more.

Could be.

I hate to think I may have lost a friend I've had for over 20 years because his wife feels threatened by my existence.

I hope I'm never that insecure and jealous over someone who lives on the other side of the country.

I really hope to hear from my friend soon, and that I'm overreacting.

I hope.