On Closed Doors, New Opportunities, Reunions and Partings

It was the Best of Times, It was the Worst of Times. Sorry, that's already been used. I'm starting this post from my motel room after attending the dinner dance portion of my 40th High School Reunion. Where I finish is anyone's guess. Reunions can be a time of great joy, great sadness, and great stress. Joy for seeing the ones you loved and shared memories with. Sadness for the ones who were not there, either of their own choice, or because of an unexpected and sudden passing from this time we call life, and stress, because of this need to compare ourselves among ourselves, which the Bible says is not wise.

On a side note, sometimes that unexpected passing happens not to us as individuals, but to the institution which brought us together.. While preparing for my 40th High School Reunion I learned that my College Alma Mater, of which I would this year celebrate 36 years since graduation, wouldn't reach another year itself, as it was shutting down due to declining enrollment. At least that is the official position. Perhaps the decline in enrollment was preceded by a decline in purpose. When I passed through the Hallowed Halls of Eastern Nazarene College we were the Crusaders, and our colors were red and white. Our color remained the same, but future classes were just Lions. Meow. I shall rather take pride in being a purple and white Canalmen.

This was my third reunion. The ten year was my first. I registered and looked for someone I knew to sit down. I found the table of Michelle Basset and Maureen Robello, my Freshman and Sophomore crushes. My second reunion was the thirtieth. If we had others I did not receive an invitation. Once again I found myself at Maureen's table. This time I was determined to expand my horizons ànd find someone else that I knew. I found a table that had one person that I knew and two that I thought I knew as it was I had discovered my canal side crew. The person I knew was Robbin Benoit. When I was a little eight year old boy just moving to the Cape from Central Mass, I met Robbin and was somewhat intimidated by her. She soon moved to the other side of the Canal and was forgotten. The other two were Vaughn Jones and Melissa Almeida, who also came across as tough and intimidating. My educational and social growth were soon to be thrown into disarray during a period of grades six through eight, where the State decided I needed special needs education which could only be accomplished by shipping me off to a neighboring town. All that was accomplished was destroying social ties that were just beginning to form. That uprooting was felt by them too, though I was unaware of it until just recently.

In the end it's all about roots, both the putting down and the pulling out. I have gone through 5 such cycles iny life. It is some sort of miracle of God that during one of those cycles that I can best describe as going through hell that God used another uprooted soul by the name of Kimberly Anne Moore to ba a rock, anchor, and lifeline to me, and he did it without her knowing. Perhaps I was too naive in thinking that two uprooted souls could somehow take hold securely. I will leave that, however to the wisdom and mercy of God.

It is one of life's great ironies that uprooted people learn to cope by building walls. I have many. God has managed to poke some holes in those walls through music and my writing. Sometimes a song pops into my head to address a situation, even so silly as a botched Uber reservation triggering Don't you forget about me. The music of Chicago, and a lot of other 80's tunes can reduce me to tears before they end. And my novel in progress for the past 40 years has a main character a Teenage girl running from destiny while hoping to put down roots, set in the Wild West. The biggest tool, however, are hugs. During this 40th Reunion Weekend the hugs that I have received from my classmates has acted to pull down great chunks of wall. Thank you. 

And so,  as I once again begin to set down new roots with a new apartment on Cape Cod, I hope to be able to get by with a little help from my friends. This reunion time, it really seems that I have felt in my heart coming from you all, WELCOME HOME.