Fortune Cookie Friday: Renewing at Reunions

This year I am attending my 30th high school reunion. The event will be small since many of the alumni have moved away and some have unfortunately passed away. Nonetheless, a group of us are gathering this summer to commemorate four special years of our lives together.

I’m looking forward to getting together with the ones that make it to the homecoming. Reunions are a time to catch up with friends that you haven’t seen in a while or fell to the wayside. We try to stay in touch over the years, but life moves us into different spheres. Some of us found ourselves busy with college, or new jobs. As we got older, many started families. Others traveled the world and experienced different cultures. The brave few that stayed behind took up the mantle to report on the local news and coordinate the reunions.

This event will also give us time to reminisce about years past. We can share stories about the camaraderie of our youth, the social and cultural differences of the time, and how our music is now considered “oldies,” even if this generation still occasionally jams to Bohemian Rhapsody.

I wondered what my past me would think about the present me, but then my astute daughter said I shouldn’t care what younger me would think. I’m not that person anymore. She is right. Those thoughts would only make me doubt myself or my decisions, and I love how I am at this moment.

My classmates and I have grown over the years. Life showed us good times and bad. We connected with many people, learned from our experiences, and now we get a chance to share that this summer.

We might not look like we do in our yearbook pictures but no one should. That was the past and life has so much more to offer than that one moment in time, and I intend to make many more moments to share with my friends.