A familiar face

Nathan & Carrie

As our kids move into their mid-20s and early 30s, Lori and I have had the opportunity to also see their friends grow older and navigate life's changes and opportunities.

 
And so it was that we found ourselves invited to join Nathan, our oldest son, and his longtime friend, Carrie, for dinner last night. The two have known each other since Nathan, now 33, was a student at the University of Oregon. Carrie grew up in Oregon but moved away to Arizona about four years ago, though she continues to work from there for a Portland employer, handling a variety of computer-based responsibilities.

It's nice to have your kid's friend instigate the get-together. Says a lot about how much we enjoy each other's company and are able to bridge the generation gap. We talked about work and family, about Carrie's new life in Tucson, about her reluctance to move back to Portland just yet, and about possibilities that remained unexplored.

We've always enjoyed Carrie. She is smart, funny, polite and pretty. Selfishly, it would be nice to have her back in Portland. But at 30, she's got a lot of life yet to live and it will be interesting to see which paths she takes and where they lead her.