Reflections

Have you ever encountered an event that causes you to look back at "the good ole' days"? I witnessed one of those events yesterday. One of my best friends got (re)married yesterday. He and I grew up together and we were very close. As most friendships tend to do, as we aged, we each sort of went our own way. We always kept in touch, but, you know how it goes. As people get older, we all kinda' fall into predictable patterns and get comfortable in our own life.

Yesterday, a lot of friends (from way back) came to the wedding. It was the most amazing thing to see people that I haven't seen in years, and it was awesome to see them and catch up on each other's lives. It was hard to believe how much everyone has changed. Of course, most of us have gained "a few" pounds. :-) Most of them were married and had children. It was amazing to see how much their children had grown in what seemed like such a short time since we last saw each other. In actuality, it has been several years.

Of everything that happened yesterday, I think the best part was talking about old times. It was great to talk about stories from our past that had long since been forgotten. All of us laughed about our antics, and their wives and my girlfriend laughed at us and our "fish stories". The ladies also wondered how any of us made it through our teen and college years alive. The Lord knows we did some things in the past that we thought were a good idea at the time, but in retrospect, they weren't such good ideas. :-) There were times that I think we were lucky to have someone "upstairs" looking out for us. The ladies started referring to our memories as fish stories because, as they said, our stories seem to get bigger and more grand every time we get together, kinda like the two pound bass you catch at the lake in July, but by Christmas, that thing "had to weigh at least 15 pounds". I am not sure why that is. I guess as a person gets older, the memories get more cherished . . . or it could be that we are just getting older and our brains are slipping a little bit. :-)

It truly was a great experience to take a stroll down memory lane yesterday. It is also kinda' funny to think about how, fifteen years ago, I used to laugh about how the "old folks" (aunts, uncles, etc.) always talk about the good ole' days, and now I am quickly becoming part of that "old folks' nation". A good friend of mine has a good analogy for this situation. He says, "Life is like a roll of toilet paper . . . the closer we get to the end, the faster it goes by". I think he is right. Time really does fly as you get older.

I guess thats all I'm going to write about this, at least for now, but I do want to leave everyone with a parting recommendation. I think we all have good friends that we haven't seen in a long time. If my discussion of this has brought back memories of your own, why don't you pick up the phone and give those friends a call? You never know how good it will make you feel when you look back to the "good ole' days". :-)

Until next time,

--Voice of Reason--