9/25 - I've got another confession to make........

(stolen from the Foo Fighters - but I digress)

I skipped my 35 year high school reunion this weekend.  Yes, I said THIRTY FIVE year reunion....so I'm old - its not like you didn't already know that - let's move on.

Why didn't I attend?

First off - it was a dinner dance which generally sucks for me without a partner because dancing in a group of women while the men look on isn't cute after a certain age - it becomes creepily like a strip club only without dollar bills being tucked into your bra, doncha think?

And, it was on a Friday night - which made me think that few folks from out of town were going to be able to attend......and lets face it - those are the ones I'd want to see - I run into the local folk occasionally and we'd probably already be hanging out on a semi-regular basis if we were "friends".

The last reunion I went to was my 25th - I went to the "informal get together" which was held, if memory serves, the night before the dinner dance - had pleasant conversations catching up with a few  people I hadn't seen since the 15 year event, and finished up by having a private reunion with an old friend.......and I'll just smile and leave it at that.

 Even though people seem to remember me as much more interesting and cool than I was....I still don't enjoy reliving the past.  I prefer to reinvent myself every decade or so......and what I"m working on for my 50s will get its own blog at some point, I promise.

OK - so I didn't go....

However, thanks to the brilliance of Mark Zuckerberg  (Happy Yom Kippur by the way), my graduating class has a Facebook page that's sharing lots of pictures of the event.

And you know what - I don't recognize most of the faces - and the ones that I do think I might know  look either really old or impossibly young - like I married (or became) a plastic surgeon/personal trainer- young.  This was such a shock to me that I mentioned it at aerobics class - how did these people get so old?  And of course my friends laughed because they are much too polite to point out that I am old as well.

It took me a bit to figure out why I was so shocked.  Its not that I am unrealistic about aging, honest.  I know I look a lot older than I did in high school - even a lot older than I did in my 30s - unless we have incredibly good genes and ridiculous willpower to avoid all the fun stuff in life that ages us - we are going to get and look older.

The shock came because I haven't had any contact with these people for a very long time - so my frame of reference and expectations are skewed.  Classmates that I socialize with either in person or through Facebook may have changed in appearance every bit as much over 35 years, but its been gradual and so really not noticeable.

Or maybe its just that my friends don't age like other people - they still all look amazing no matter what their birth certificates say.

And yes, I'm talking about you ;).....

9/22 - Make new friends, but keep the old.....

One is silver and the other, in this case, is tri-color gold.

One of the most awesome things about my friends is that we can kinda pick up where we left off no matter how long its been since we talked.  Thats part of the reason that my Myrtle Beach vacation was so awesome....we all just kind of  "click".

Anyhow, I noticed a tri-color chain around my friends neck and it made me smile to remember the story behind it - and to smile even more to see that she still treasured the gift.

You see, a number of years ago, this friend was visiting up my way from South Carolina and she fell in love with this gold chain that I was wearing - just a fine twisted tricolor gold chain -- nothing special.  After she'd gone home to South Carolina, I happened to go into the same store and I saw the chain again.....so I bought another one and sent it down to her.  She was surprised and touched and very thankful, and I was glad to have made her happy.  But I never really thought about it again until I saw her and she was wearing that chain......and it was pretty clear that she wears it all the time just the way that I do mine.

Sometimes we have no idea how much impact our actions have.

And then again, sometimes its very clear. 

Heres my back yard three years ago - a couple months after I bought my house.

And here is pretty much the same view today

 

I'd forgotten how it used to look - so right now, once again, I'm smiling with pride at what I've managed....and I think if the trees could, they'd be smiling too.

 

9/20 Old Lady of the Sea

I just got back from a quick trip to visit my best bud, who has been my friend for more than 40 years and now lives in South Carolina.  We have another mutual friend who moved to Myrtle Beach some years ago, and we all shared a mini girls vacation at the beach.

It was wonderful - the weather was good (at least the first couple of days), the resort was nice,  but the best part was just being able to relax and enjoy each other's company.

And it reminded me just how much I love being able to hear and watch the ocean.   Many of my best memories are associated with the beach.......as a teen hanging under the parking deck of a condo complex sneaking cigarettes and beer.....trying to act sophisticated when I came across my first nude beach in Greece..... snorkeling with a manatee in Key Largo and with sea turtles in Hawaii.  Cresting a hill in the Sinai and discovering the amazing beaches of the Red Sea....the list goes on and on.

The ocean is everchanging - just take a look at the difference a day makes.....

Happy Ocean

 

                                                      Unhappy Ocean


Dealing with my fathers disability over the past few months has made me recognize that I need to think about my future and decide what I want while I still have the ability to make my own choices.   I love my house and the life that I've made for myself here in my hometown....but there will likely come a day when I just can't keep up with the demands of maintaining a house and a yard or perhaps I'll no longer find joy in the work.

And when that time comes, I'll be ready to move to a small oceanfront condo someplace where the smell of the salt and the sound of the waves will calm me - and the ocean itself will provide me with everchanging scenery, even if I can't leave home.