PARALLEL LIVES

I just spent the last 24 hours with a classmate from high school.  He is touring the United States on a motorcycle, by himself, exploring, discovering, and stopping in along the way to visit family, friends, and old classmates, all the while aiming for the four corners of this country—six  thousand miles behind him and four thousand to go.  What a trip!

We have not seen each other in 49 years, and even back then, we knew more of each other than really knew each other.  Facebook put us in contact and when I learned of his planned trip I extended an invitation for him to stop in.  “Just like Motel 6,” I said, “I’ll leave the light on.”  When he called and the next day came for that stay, I was both pleased and surprised.   

So here I was, opening the door to my past life, and in he walked.  We talked non-stop until he took off for the next leg of his journey.  The poor man, I may have worn out his ears!  Our nonstop conversation showed us both how our lives ran so parallel…in our approach to living and the attitude we have today.  “Choices”, he said.  “It is what it has all boiled down to.  We both knew we were the ones to make our own happiness”, he continued.   And we did.

We talked of the 50th class reunion coming up next year.   I have not been home for a class reunion since I graduated in 1965.  I left my hometown in 1966 and never looked back.  I have no regrets about that decision, but it has taken a long time to build bridges of memory that in time finally gave me a sense of grounding. I always looked with envy to those who were born in this area and experience such a deep set of roots where they live.  I have two such friends in my community.  I cannot be with them, that they don’t run into someone, somewhere that they know from their childhood days, old neighbors, school chums, or work friends.  My husband could not travel up or down the 309 corridor without running into someone he knew from back in the days…and I would always remind him of  how wonderful that was.

Because of this visit, I am, for the first time, looking forward to going back home.  Thank you John for that gift and thank you to Facebook, for keeping connected those school chums from days long gone.  In this world of easy travel and far away places it really is a wonderful thing to feel connected.