I had dinner tonight with an old high school friend. It’s actually been a year since we saw each other without needing to go through Facebook or email. It’s kind of amazing how time changes people—or doesn’t change people. Of course everyone is subject to change—that’s the natural order of things. But the ways in which people change are what intrigue me the most.

As with anything, people grow apart after high school and go on to lead different paths in life. You still get together every now and again when both people are free to do so, but it’s not really the same as knowing someone. You sit and exchange life details over a beer, but then realize after that drink that you’re separated from who you used to be, both singularly and together.

Yet, every once in a while, you might find yourself lucky enough to be around someone who hasn’t changed much, and is all the better for it. Of course people grow up and become more responsible in life (hopefully), but the things that you wish would never change about someone—the things you told them never to change in their yearbook—rarely stay the same. When they do and you find that you need to try to remember why you loved someone in the first place—because those reasons are still all there—it strikes you just how fortuitous it is to be sitting across the table from that person.