Well, here it is almost another month gone by before I drop in again! When I was a little girl, I remember being so excited for events that were on the horizon…my birthday, Christmas, a trip to Six Flags, my aunt coming to visit, all sorts of things. And it would seem like forever before they would arrive. Time would move as slow as a molasses. My grandmother told me once (when I complained about how long it was going to be before something arrived) that time would speed up as I got older and that things would get here before I knew it. I didn’t understand how it worked at that age by any means. If you could speed it up, why not speed it up so whatever would get here sooner! Time is time and you can’t slow it down or speed it up as much as we’d like to be able to do so. But she was right. Now, time goes by as fast as kudzu growing on a hillside. I attribute it to getting older, being busier, and my perspective changing because you really can’t change time!
Last night, we attended KB’s 50th High School Class Reunion. FIFTY YEARS. How can that be?! He’s not old enough to have been out of school for fifty years! We had a great time…we always do at his reunions. It’s well done and it’s just fun to see those old friends and reminisce. There were a lot of ‘remember when’s’ and great stories told throughout the night. One of the ladies at our table made the comment that it was half a century since they’d graduated. Half.a.century. Let that soak in. When you think about it like that, it could be a little depressing. I mean fifty years is bad enough but half a century?!
Not everyone gets those fifty years after graduation as evidenced by the Tribute Table. They had a Tribute Table where there a photo of each person is displayed with a candle glowing in their memory. Some of them were gone soon after graduation and some just in the last few years. I watched classmate after classmate walk over to that table throughout the night. Several would reach out and touch one of the photos, some would bow their heads and say a prayer, some would just stand and stare. But they all were visibly touched by the memorial or maybe it was the memories. I’m so glad these classmates aren’t forgotten and everyone was able to have a few minutes to pay their respects to them.
I like to think of those fifty years as a gift and a blessing from God. A lot can happen in 50 years…you go to college (or not), get a job, maybe get married, maybe have some kids, buy a house, travel, move, get grandkids, take up a hobby, watch fads come and go and come back again, go through countless ups and downs. You meet new people, reconnect with old friends, make a difference in someone’s life and have them make an impact on yours. Everyone’s fifty years is different yet the same. We’re all living our lives as best we can. And, if we’re lucky, we get to come back together and celebrate a time in our lives of shared experiences that helped shape those fifty years. After all this time, you aren’t the same person you were and neither are they. The labels we were stamped with back then no longer apply. But, the friendships that were formed and the memories that were made forged a bond that is never really broken. My fiftieth reunion isn’t for several more years but I’m already looking forward to seeing people I haven’t seen in a long time and catching up and reminiscing!
“Growing apart doesn’t change the fact that for a long time we grew side by side; our roots will always be tangled. I’m glad for that.” — Ally Condie
Rabbit Trail Ramblings 