The triumph of the Scarlet Hurricane

There are sometimes when I sit to write that I can barely breath as I viciously attack the keyboard.  And then there are times like tonight when I know there is something to tell but drawing it forth is an epic endeavor.

This past weekend cannot go by without being duly noted in this blog.  A 20th reunion is a celebration to say the least.  Celebrating it with people you would still chose to befriend 20 years later, is astounding.  Our "reunion" for a class whose school no longer exists, was pulled together in 45 days.  Out of 105 graduates, thirty-something people gathered.  David Martin flew in from the other side of the country.  There were a dozen or more people who represented the hometown and then various others scattered along the eastern seaboard.  We called and heckled those who couldn't make it.  We reminisced and drank and laughed as though twenty years had passed in twenty minutes.  There were athletes and preps, homecoming queens and drama queens, country boys and city girls.

I'm sure there were some who were curious about old flames, some who had something to prove, some who wanted comfort and some who wanted a good time.  Reunions are a smorgasbord for the curious.

It was a lazy afternoon, cerulean and warm.  The river drifted gently past as a handful of small boys rippled its waters.  People mingled and hugged, repeated their stories endlessly, hoping for glimmers of understanding, reckoning.

The night settled amicably and the beer flowed.  We gathered as we had years ago at a friend's house, whose parents were out of town.  This time we bought beer legally and drank responsibly.  We talked about children and housing markets, football teams and high school memories.  

Our time is fleeting.  The sun can set too early upon your best planned day.  My past has not always been easy to look back upon but if I hadn't I would have missed the opportunity to reconnect with so much of what was good about my youth.  That little high school of 500 in the Blue Ridge mountains housed giants. Its so good to know that they all still walk among us.