Back to School

Went out for dinner & drinks (water for me) for Jim's birthday.

We laughed so hard at dinner telling stories about Dad, Jeff and growing up in the big house on the hill that we decided that we better leave the dining area because other people were trying to eat.

My face hurt from laughing...

...but duty calls and I had to get the chicken fingers home to Kathy and the boys who were settling in for the basketball games.

I was literally leaving when I spotted an old friend...

...someone I had graduated high school with...

...and I remembered that there was an impromptu gathering scheduled through Facebook.

The funny thing is that the girls who knew me back in 1982 were well aware what I was thinking in 2017.

"You aren't going to come back!"

I was laughing because it was true!

I had no intention of returning.

Yet, on the way home, I decided that I wanted to pay the past a visit.

I was so glad that I did!

I grew up in a small town. Eighty-three of us in the graduating class. We all knew everything about one another back then.

Who liked who...

...who didn't want to go out with me.

Visiting the past in a situation like that is kind of like putting on a pair of comfortable old shoes.

More laughs.

I don't quite talk as much as I did last night.

There was some talk of regret, a few mentions of the pains of today, but a whole bunch of storytelling...

...and laughing.

I've alluded to it before, but those things that happen in the course of our lives shape the people that we become. Growing old allows you the wisdom to see those days of angst through clear glasses.

And we all had glasses!

And less hair.

And we're all hurting in one way or another.

"What amazes me is how quickly it all flies by."

Many have raised their families and are now concentrating on grandkids.

Love, death, marriages, divorces, bouts of extreme happiness and utter sadness...

From mountain tops to the valley floor, but somehow, for a few hours, we're 16 years old again.

Laughing, sharing and feeling good about how it has played out so far.

So glad I went back.

Great to see everyone again.

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