Needing Both

There’s a very popular saying in my native Island: ‘ New broom sweep clean, but old broom knows all di corners’. This is commonly used in the workplace to refer to new management taking control of a company and at times making sweeping changes, while those with more experience at that company tend to have more knowledge about best practices. As children, we used it to remind each other not to forget our old friends—and the history we share—especially when we meet new friends. This was very common when a new school year started, or a seeming more exciting and engaging student joins the class. Sometimes we have a tendency of being enthralled by the new ‘friend’ that we forget the old friends we’ve been hanging out with for years. Such is the nature of humans. I, however, have a different take on this. Why not have both? There’s always room in my heart to add another amazing friend every time. This was my story this past week while I was on spring break in NYC.

Dee and I met when we were 5 or 6 years old in first grade. We also went to the same high school. The last time I remember seeing her was nearly 40 years ago. She thinks she remembers us seeing each other briefly on the streets of NYC – I don’t recall. Even if that were true — we would still not have seen each other for about 30+ years. This spring break we managed to catch up. It was as if we never missed a beat! There’s something quite remarkable and enduring about those timeless bonds rooted in authentic connections like ours. Like true island sisters we talked and laughed. It was truly amazing! This was indeed an ‘old broom’ meet up.

Jan and I were virtual sisters. We met as bloggers through Word Press. Our worlds collided in NYC last week and it just so happened I was staying quite close to her neck of the woods. We had to meet. As we had dinner it struck me how calm and easy it was for us to talk. These kinds of connections never fail to boggle my mind. It was a ‘meant to be’ moment. We met in the ‘bloggerverse’ in 2021–it felt like we had known each other forever. This ‘new broom’ is here to stay. 😊

In the current climate, I find that we have to be intentional about creating and maintaining worthwhile and lasting friendships. Allow ourselves to love, trust and take a chance. Jan and I laughed at our millennial sons who questioned the sanity of us meeting up like this. We certainly understood their concerns, but we are from another place and time. A time when we didn’t need to swipe right and left to meet people. We are probably from a more trusting generation. Or just may be Someone bigger than us did a divine hook-up. Either way, it worked well for us. As the old saying goes: ‘when you know you know’. There’s space in my heart to embrace both the new and the old. The truth is, I need both. I thank God for the heart connections He blesses us with. I end with another common saying we echoed as children: ” Good fren betta than pocket money”. I’m sure you get the meaning. Grab a hold of the ‘old brooms’ in your life and leave space for the new ones!

Here’s Jan blog on our meetup. Great read!