Doesn’t matter where you roam. Doesn’t matter how far you’ve gone, what you’re doing now, or not doing now. Doesn’t matter your current state of mind or lack thereof. Doesn’t matter where you land when you fly away.
Keeping the magic alive is key. Whether in the place you all drove to every morning or at a taco stop in the suburbs.
When you’re together it’s home. All those jagged puzzle pieces that may not fit most of the time just fall into place.
The conversation is frenzied and you just sit back and take it in. Everyone talking all at once catching up with this end and that end of the table all at the same time.
Those times are like batteries for our worn out souls. Just by being near each other and understanding the words under the words, we fill ourselves.
We part ways in pieces, as obligations of life intercede. Each of us heads back to wherever it is that we landed. A lot together and some flown off to distant and close lands.
In a few days we will head back to our classrooms with a little piece of the old us restored.
Keeping the magic alive.
Live, Love, Teach 
I love the feel of this piece! You’re so right, and it’s so well written. It’s comfortable to read, and it makes me think, happily of my own family and friends. I read it twice just to enjoy. I especially love, “catching up with this end and that end of the table all at the same time.” As well as, “Those times are like batteries for our worn out souls.”
I like the literary elements in this piece! It’s a good read, and has lines that you can kind of “see” in your head We part ways in pieces, as obligations of life intercede. I see a puzzle slowly breaking apart.
You writing reminds me of the One Direction song, “Don’t Forget Where You Belong.”
Btw: Glad you’re back slicing this year, Kim!
This hits all the right notes, Kim. At first I thought maybe you were writing about you and your husband. As we all know, sometime we need to recharge those batteries as well. I just love that it is about an old friend. Although we don’t meet up often, my BFF and I do this during our morning drive to school over the phone.
I am going to print this out and hang it on my wall-that-makes-me-feel-better wall at work. I loved the noise and the laughter and the knowing all the pieces of each other. “The words under the words” is my favorite part of your writing here. I could read this a million times and still tear up.