Originally Posted 11-25-11…

I just had dinner with a friend I met on an airplane 3 & 1/2 years ago. We were both returning to Raleigh from NYC. Bad weather kept us on the tarmac for hours before taking off. Naturally we exchanged our lives’ stories within the first 45 minutes. She was a kind, funny, smart city girl who had just moved to NC from New York. I liked her immediately. She was calmly freaking out about flying in bad weather. I don’t think we stopped talking for 4 hours. I’m usually the person that busts out the iPod, pillow & eye cover intentionally sending “leave me alone” signals because, well, I’d rather be left alone on airplanes. But the unique, scary-weather circumstances had everyone buzzing. Meghan & I quickly figured out that we were practically neighbors in Raleigh, went to the same gym, & shared a very similar mindset about diet/exercise (freaks). We talked about work, family, our jock pasts & ex-boyfriends. We related on many levels. There was one big difference, however. Meghan was only 7 years old. Hard to believe that a 7 year old could be so mature. Well, ok, she wasn’t still 7 – she was 23. I was 39. But when I was 23, she was 7! We’ve since figured out that the age difference between us is the same as the age difference between me and her parents. I’m not saying it’s weird, but…it’s kinda weird, right? Regardless, a real friendship has blossomed. To her friends I’m her “old airplane friend” and to my friends she’s my “young airplane friend.” Seriously, that’s what we say. I’m not sure if she’s exceptionally mature (recently married, built a new house, started her own business) or if I’m exceptionally immature (currently single with pipe dreams of a career in comedy and a past which consists of a lot of ultimate frisbee & snowboarding) …but we meet somewhere in the middle and it is awesome. We have a very honest, supportive, unconditional bond. 98% of the time I don’t feel an age difference when we hang out. But when I do, 1% comes from her young skin and me lecturing her about sunscreen. The other 1% comes from her affinity for Brittany Spears that I’ll never understand.

**2014 Update – As of July 2013, Meghan is a Momma to a beautiful, sweet baby girl. And in other news, I paid my car off!!