So I took a little drive today… Stopped by the lake, watched some people trying to catch some fish for a while, took a few pictures… Then on the way home I took a route that brought me by some homes of friends that I once knew very well… First, by my ex-in-laws place… It’s vacant now, but it still looks the same… Beautiful front porch and small front yard along the main street of a Norman Rockwellesque small town…
Then I drove by a friend’s house who owned an in ground swimming pool… Different owners now, and the place looks a lot different, but the house and pool is still there – even the diving board. The liner is all torn to shreds though and it doesn’t look like it’s been used in years…
Last time I was at either of those places, must be closing in on 40 years ago… Some of my friends today are not even close to being this age yet… But in my mind I can still see the inside of those houses… Still feel the emotion of evenings sitting on that porch with my girl friend and her family… I can still smell the chlorine from that pool, the view standing on the end of the diving board just before launching into a somersault and cannon ball… I can remember all these things like they were just a couple years ago…
As I slowly drove by, I wondered if it was possible somehow that an echo of who we once were, somehow still lingered in those places, all of us still together, still young, still great friends, still full of promise – like a shadow that can’t been seen, but only felt by those people they belong to. Probably not, but I swear I caught a glimpse of us all…
It’s a terrible thing I think to realize that so much has passed me by… If only I had known back then just how incredibly special those days were… Why didn’t I realize it, why didn’t I take the time to just stop once in a while, take a deep breath, and for a moment just look around and appreciate and acknowledge our “moment in the sun” and all that was yet before us? Thinking about it, maybe I did know then – but I naively thought they would just last forever…
Not meaning to take anything away from, or make light of what is now, but I would give anything to go back to that time again…