Thursday, June 17, 2010

Oldies, but Goodies (for sure)

First, I apologize for my title. No one mentioned, or vaguely referenced, is actually "old". Lately I have have been blessed with the opportunity to meet up with some friends from my elementary, high school, and college years. These were separate occasions, but here are the lessons I have learned.
  • The first is, time really does not matter that much. Not being one to be great at keeping up with people in the past, I approached these opportunities with some hesitation, maybe some guilt for not being a better, more connected friend. At one point the guilt and associated embarrassment would have kept me from reaching out at all. Somewhere after age 35 many of these insecurities just fell away. Not so much a "who cares" attitude, but more of a "wake up silly, this is fun your missing" thing. The years seem to fall away when you see an old friend, the old "lingo" jumps into the conversation, the mention of embarrassing moments of long ago are suddenly just "tears on your cheeks" funny. I certainly will not let time pass like that before meeting up again.
  • Another lesson is, life is not a contest that is being judged. Yes, for years I lived thinking, "I don't want to see people from the past until ___________". So the blank changed often. It was career goals, pant size, kids... you get it. All those things that we want, some happen, some do not. The blank is "the PLAN" fulfilled. Funny thing is that "the PLAN" changes. What I wanted at 22 is nothing I even care about today. I have heard people say "Life is what happens while you are busy making plans". Absolutely. When meeting up with old friends I discovered all of these people have beautiful lives. There is no one way to have a beautiful life. Each person has many blessings, along with some struggles. Just like me. Just like life. We talked about the good stuff, sympathized about the struggles, and laughed about both. Never once did judgement play a part.
  • As a person that can be a bit vain at times, it would be remiss to not mention that all of the ladies I have reconnected with are aging like fine wine. Honestly, maybe because the hair was so awful in the 80's, anything would be improvement. These ladies all look fabulous. Perhaps its because all the insecurities of youth are gone and it helps cast a radiance upon a person. Whatever it is, no kidding, these gals are approaching the "cougar" years looking good. Their spouses, significant others, and potential somebodies (for the single ladies) are lucky to have women that are so beautiful, on the surface and more importantly on the inside. These are "oldies, but goodies" for sure. (But really not so much on "oldies" thing.)

2 comments:

  1. Oh so true Allie. It all passes by so quickly! I didn't want another year to go by before we were able to really enjoy the company of those that played such an integral part of our formative years. I really felt lucky to reconnect with all of you again.

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  2. APP, it was so great seeing you last September! I was not looking my best, for obvious reasons...but I'm so glad I got to spend time with you and the other girls!

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