Old Friends and Times Past...

10/30/2011

Yesterday I had the distinct and utter pleasure of visiting with some of my childhood friends.  It was awesome.  Imagine for yourself what it might be like to sit in a room at age sixty-seven with guys and gals you have known practically since the day you were born.  It was better than awesome.

I am not quite sure The Nancy had as good a time as I, but she stood up to the task, and I am proud of her for making me proud of her.

This little reunion was the first time I had seen some of these folks in fifteen years, some others for twenty-plus years, and even some I had not laid eyes and smiles on for over forty years. 

Andrew Chapel Methodist Church was the church of my parents long before I was born.  I was literally raised in it.  Its Sunday School was where I met many of these people; it’s scouting programs - Cub Scout Pack 144, Boy Scout Troop 144 and Explorer Scouts 144 and its Methodist Youth Fellowship provided even more.  This is my extended family.

We arrived at the reunion’s venue, the home of one my boyhood idols, at about 1:30 on this cold, wet day.  We walked in to find at least thirty old friends and one cousin.  We hugged and talked and reacquainted ourselves and put names to faces by means of name tags.  A few of us were recognizable, some not so much.  In the end everyone looked exactly as they had fifty-years ago before high school graduations, the Viet Nam war and marriage took us on different paths.  It was such a treat, especially since my high school graduating class has never had a reunion.

Death being such a huge part of living, some friends have already moved onto the great beyond.  Missed but not forgotten, we honored them by merely getting together.  As I sit here typing this little piece, the just revisiting yesterdayin my mind is an emotional thrill.  I get a little choked up just thinking about it and so look forward to the day when I can do it again.

And that is all I have to say about that…