Like An Old Shoe*

(*Heck of a way to refer to another human being, but bear with me.)

Some years back, when I was still a little airman no-class at Maxwell, I had a penpal in Oklahoma City. We had corresponded for some time before I got around to getting her phone number and caling her. That first phone call lasted for quite some time, but was a lot of fun. Somewhere in the next letters we exchanged, we both agreed that there was an odd familiarity in our phone conversation -- something akin to talking to an old friend one hadn't had contact with in a long time.

Recently, I had occasion to call another friend I've know for about a year or so. We've corresponded on-line for some time, but never spoken in person. It was occasioned by a minor emergency on her part and, although I had left a comment on her blog and fired off an e-mail, something nagged at me to call, lest she go off to take care of the problem without the information I had provided. Fortunately, I had her phone number, so I made the call. After kidding around a bit, I finally let on who it was and then passed on the information I had provided on-line.

After that, we chatted a bit, then I had the feeling I should let her go take care of stuff. During that conversation, though, an odd sense of Gemütlichkeit** settled over me, like talking with someone I talk with all the time. It was an odd mixture of comfortableness and familiarity.

Kind of like an old shoe.




**There's really no direction translation of this word. "Comfortableness" comes somewhat close, but it loses a lot in the translation.