Glory Days, Well They'll Pass You By...

It is interesting how people come in and out of your life. This weekend I reconnected in a most bizarre way with a childhood friend. This was a friend that I spent many days and hours with during my elementary school years. There are few memories I have between 5th and 8th grade that do not include him. Whether it was Saturday mornings watching the WWF(I loved Junk Yard Dog;-), or building a stage to preform our own Bruce Springsteen "Born in the USA" concert, he was always there. Slow dances at the Pavilion, with Robbie Roper as Deejay or holding hand on a field trip to Valley Forge, so many memories shared then High School came and we went our separate ways. I often asked about him when I ran into childhood friends, but no one had much to report.

This weekend that all changed. As of Saturday, we are almost related(a thought I am sure he finds horrifying:) My new sister-in-law is cousins with this long-lost friend of mine. So, as I sat at the reception watching my kids dance, I watched his dance with them. And what a reality check that was. it is one thing to know you are aging, but quit another to be faced with it. When your memories of someone stop at fourteen, it is hard swallow your next memory of them as a husband and father of two. Where did the time go? I remember those dances like they were yesterday! Now it is 20 years later and meet reconnect at a wedding where we talk about our children and introduce one another to our spouses. Married! Parents! What happened?

It is interesting how people come in and out of our lives. How the people you share so much with slowly disappear and often never become more than a memory. I know there are people in my life now that I see everyday or almost everyday that in 20 years will no longer be part of my life. I know this now as an adult, but at fourteen I didn't. Now I know that as my life changes, so do the people in it and that is okay. It is interesting though how those people I knew in elementary school, really know ME. I always find a certain level of comfort in running into those old friends and I did again this weekend.