You Can Always Go Home Again
For forty years, I didn’t think I could go home. There were a variety of reasons I hadn’t gone back to Virginia for forty years, and there’s no need to go into them here, nothing positive would come from that. It was 2015, sitting in the kitchen with my longest childhood friend when he convinced me that we should both go to our 40th high school reunion the following year. I said ok, and a plan was hatched.
GOING HOME EARLY
I ended up going home sooner than the reunion when out of the blue, I was contacted by members of my high school golf team, wondering if I would be interested in coming home to play in our high school’s annual charity fundraising golf tournament. Getting the gang back together, as it were. We only got six holes in before the rain hit, but I was having the time of my life. Now, I could wait for the reunion later in the year.
The Reunion
When the reunion came I went, my friend, who suggested we go, did not. Two of his sons were in the Navy and they were both coming home the weekend of the event, an event, about as rare as a 40th high school reunion.
I had a wonderful time. Going back to a place to which I thought I’d never return, seeing people I never thought I’d see again. I loved it. It was then and there I decided that I would let the time slip away like that any more. Whenever there was a chance to see these people, I would. At least the ones I wanted to continue seeing.
Since then, the five of us, that were really close, have stayed in touch. We’ve gathered at the Outer Banks to stay at a friend’s home there, and again, play in the golf tournament. The tournament was the reason we were back there last weekend. Third time in seven years. This time joined by another friend and his older brother.
I don’t know why these feelings have come over me. Maybe the forty years of never seeing anyone. I do know, that it warms my heart to see all of them embrace Lisa. A couple have become friends with her. Again something I never imagined happening.
Try it, you might be pleasantly surprised
What about you, have you lost the connection to the friends of your youth? No one knows you better. They knew you before you accomplished anything in life, and you knew them the same way.
Reach out. Make an effort, reconnect. I hope you do, and I hope it means as much to you as it has to me.
