Friday May 30, 2008...Reunion

Any young people out there who happen to be reading this can't imagine how fast the years slip away. I'm still the same young man inside that I was many years ago. The body has changed with the years, but the mind is still young and inquisitive. It seems only yesterday that I was a young man of 18 graduating from high school and starting out in life. The years between then and now are filled with experiences, bad and good, that have molded me into the man that I am today. But, the years seemed to fly by in just moments and I am still that same young man, with just a lifetime of memories thrown into the mix. I have lived and loved and worked and played and enjoyed life fully over the years and now that I've reached retirement, I look back with satisfaction on where I've been and what I've done and who I have become. I may not have followed the path I set out to follow or accomplished the goals that I originally set, but life brings adjustments and acceptance and here I am today as I have become.

We are discussing our 50th anniversary of high school graduation. It can't be 50 years! It was only just the other day when I and my friends graduated. We were so glad to be through with high school and ready to set out upon our next adventure. We were top dogs of our times and ready for anything. I'm really looking forward to seeing many of my friends that I haven't seen since then. I'm curious if they are still the same or if life has changed them. I don't mean externally, we have obviously all grown older and our bodies have altered - I mean internally whether these friends still have the same outlook on life and the same exuberance that they had then. I'm sure that some of our friends have passed on and we will miss them, but we will celebrate the fact that the rest of us have endured and survived and have returned one more time to be together. We can share in the joy of some of our successes and accomplishments. We can commiserate with those of us who have faced and survived tragedy. We can laugh together over our foibles and smile together when we speak of our families and our adventures.

Hopefully, the years will fade away and the friendships that we once had will rekindle, if only for a moment. It will be bittersweet and heartwarming.