It happens to me all the time: I run into people I used to know in my previous, Sarajevo, life. We yelp in surprise; we kiss or slap each other on the back; we exchange basic information and gossip about common acquaintances; we make firm promises about getting together soon or staying in touch. Afterwards, a tide of crushing sadness always overwhelms me, for I instantly recognize that whatever had connected us has now nearly dissolved; we only make gestures, get through the ritual of recognition and pretend it was only through our negligence that we had been parted. The old film of the common past that disintegrates when exposed to the light of a new life.
"Tide of crushing sadness" is exactly IT. No need to be an expat to have experienced it.
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1 comments:
wow! this is so true sometimes...and you are right that you don't have to be an expat to have experienced it...I have felt it both with friends that I made here in the US and with friends from back in Bulgaria...in either case whatever connected us at some point in time, no longer does or our lives have so completely changed that when we see each other it is an exact replica of the ritual that he described...I am definitely picking up this book to read it! Thanks for sharing!
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