The lost tribe

There’s something super comforting about catching up with my old media buddies.

Whether they worked in editorial, design, marketing or advertising … or even the finance or legal department … there’s this connection between us that never severs.

I was freaked out as a kid by a metaphysical concept I read about – a silver cord that’s supposed to tether a person’s soul to their physical body.

(You may have gathered by now that I was a bit of an odd kid.)

I found out about the cord while researching why it sometimes felt like my soul was falling abruptly back into my body as I was going to sleep at night, jolting me into awareness.

Have you ever experienced that feeling?

I worried about what would happen if my silver cord was severed and my soul couldn’t find its way back.

(Who needs imaginary friends when you have worry and the World Book for company?)

According to Google, that jolt I felt probably was probably something called “sleep starts”, which are involuntary muscle twitches that occur as your brain transitions from wakefulness to sleep.

Theories suggest these are either a misinterpretation of your relaxing muscles as you fall asleep that cause your brain to send a sudden signal to “catch yourself” or a random misfire in the brainstem during this sensitive sleep-wake transition.

But I digress … when I catch up with old media friends it’s like our souls have stayed connected by silver cords.

Years may have passed, but it feels like it was yesterday. And there are no recriminations or guilt trips, just delight to see each other again.

That’s what happened last night. Three old friends – one from editorial, one from the pic desk and one from design – speed talked to each other for a few hours about jobs, kids, real estate, magazine gossip, health issues …

And I didn’t walk away feeling panicked about what I said or didn’t say or should have said. I felt cheerful and calm.

Although it did occur to me that people from my media tribe have a touch of the object impermanence about them.

No one checks if anyone got home safely. We’re in the moment and then we’re not.

However, I do need to send them my bank details, as I paid the bill.

I’m heading reluctantly into the office today, then I’ll be thanking the heavens that it’s the weekend.

Big week. Very tired.

Have a great weekend.

Song of the day: Carole King “You’ve got a friend”