Something which always gives me some small level of satisfaction is when something happens which connects two entirely unrelated moments. Sometimes somebody will say or do something which reminds you of something else that a different person said or did in an entirely different context at an entirely different time. Just a month or two ago I had a perfect example of this and, of course, I wanted to record it for posterity.
Back in 2011, I was at the start of my first year at Bath Spa University. I think it was still only in my first or second month, so this was very early days. Obviously, at this point, my circle of friends was still small, but I already had fairly good relationship with my new friend Stacey. One afternoon I was walking along when I heard somebody shout out my name – that’s always something that gets me quite excited. Then I heard the sound of somebody running over. I turned around and found Stacey there – a very pleasant surprise. She explained that she was going to run over and jump on me, but thought I might hate it so stopped at the last minute.
Five years later, I was walking home after finishing a day at work for Futureproof Digital Media. Usually I walked down to the bus station by myself and then got the bus home, but this time, after I’d only made it a short way, something happened which made me jump – my friend and co-worker Sarah had jumped on me from behind; a lovely pleasant surprise. She explained that she had seen me walking in the same direction that she was going and so wanted to get my attention. She has no reservations that I might hate it.
As those are the only two times that people have either jumped on me from behind or thought about jumping on me from behind, they’re both intrinsically linked in my mind. It’s interesting to contrast the different decisions made in both instances; on the one hand it shows that my different friends have different thought processes, but on the other hand it may also reflect the ways that I have changed: back in 2011, I generally avoided physical contact with people entirely and it was not something I enjoyed doing, but these days I’m much more laid back and am not too bothered by physical contact.
Looking back, the me of 2011 who did not get jumped on could never have predicted everything that would have happened and changed in my life, by the time he was the me of 2016 who did get jumped on. I wonder what my life might be like in 2021 when I am hypothetically jumped on by another new friend?
