Monday, June 13, 2005
Porch Fishin' 2005
I've returned from the 1st Annual Porch Fishin' Reunion, v.2005. And I'm wondering why I came back. It was far too short a vacation, far too short a time with the best people in the whole world, far too short a time to catch up with everyone's lives, which seem to have diverged in the blink of an eye. Wasn't it yesterday Hudd and I were chasing each other through the Davis courtyard with water bottles shouting absurdly offensive insults between laughter? And I seem to recall it was last weekend that Sherriff, Fox, Hudd and I stole into the CS lab with a Gamecube and Robocop to watch the 80's classic on the big screen and then have the most furious bout of "Smash Bros." ever! Just a few days ago JD and I were on stage together in "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Wait a sec, when did all these girlfriends become wives?!! When the hell did we wake up and find ourselves separated by so many states? Reunions are good and bad. Good because it brings us all back together. Bad because it reminds us we are separated. No more will Hudd wake up at 3pm, stumble into my room, play video games for 2 hours before finally showering and then heading to dinner and blockbuster. No more will Mason and I meet right before lunch to stretch our physical limits in the gym. JD might still be building sets, but I won't be appearing on them anymore. Beal and I certainly won't be strapping on the boxing gloves again. Ting Ho and the Low Country Boil are far behind us, while the words "the crescent is our symbol...and the cross is our guide..." only reverberate through the halls of our memories and lodge somewhere deep in our hearts. A stranger might look at us now and see us becoming a medical doctor, two college professors, a priest, a high school teacher, and a computer scientist; husbands, fathers, leaders. A stranger might look at us now and see only these things, but I look at us and see the amazing journey, a journey forged by trial, cradled by Lambda Chi Alpha, and formed in love. On the way home, a Todd Agnew song came through the speakers with the chilling line, "...I don't know why I can't remain safe here where I always came to meet with you and you always met with me. You're still here waiting." God, help me to remember we're still on that journey and our paths aren't as far apart as they sometimes seem. And thanks for the 1st Annual Porch Fishin' Reunion. May there be a thousand more.
-R
4 Comments:
You will probably never do what Tom Wolfe's character George Webber did, but the upshot is the same; you really can't go home again.
The hard part for me was realizing that I had changed more than they had, those who had just stayed at home.
It's unfortunately a part of getting older, and I think it helps us to realize that we are changing -- so we don't react badly or strangely when old friends see us as somehow different from the image we had of ourselves then.
May you always have those feelings, because the connection will ALWAYS be there, no matter how long the time. Even thirty years later you can become 20 again just by being together. The fraternal bond is very special, the journey amazing, and the voices only a phone call away. Treasure it always-Mom
A thousand annual reunions? Man, even MASON won't have hair left at that point... - Sherriff
Doesn't seem like long ago...
, at
1:08 PM
