The Best Of Times

Saturday September 25th was my 20 year high school reunion.

We all came together via Facebook to plan, coordinate and do our best to locate and  invite as many classmates as we could to an event that would go down in history in all of our minds as something we will never forget.  Something so special that all we could do was take it all in as it came.  It was a true Success.

Some 200 or so bodies invaded the ol' Elks Lodge on Main Street in our little hometown of New Castle, Indiana. Walking in was almost overwhelming as friends were packed in like sardines around the bar and on the dance floor.

We squealed, hugged, laughed, danced, and sipped the night away.

Some of these people I have known for over 30 years.  The best thing about those kind of friends is you can go years without seeing them, and then come together and it's as if a day didn't go by. You aren't nervous, you don't have to search for something to say.  In fact, an idle moment is rare.  There just isn't enough time.

In these recent years in my life, I have come to realize that there is nothing more important than making time to spend with the people you love. People who you enjoy spending time with, and people who reach out to you.
When that connection is there, why let months or years go by, let alone 20 years?

What is more important than a friend?  When you think back on your reunion, who made you smile? Who did you not think twice about reaching out to hug?  Good friends are gifts we give ourselves. 

There are many more photos I wish I had.  Moments uncaptured that will just have to live on in my memory, and they will, just as times from the 1970's through 1990 did.  Some memories of some of these people I can conjure up in a heartbeat, whereas a memory from just last week is forgotten.

Cheers, Classmates... Friends Old and New- Here's to many, many more.

"Friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young." ~ Baz Luhrmann