Should Old Acquaintances Be Forgotten?

Friday, I met with an old classmate from High School. This was someone I ran around with during our high school years, and into college. We had a hit and miss friendship then, and then life got in the way. We both married, each had two children, and then grandchildren. We sort of lost track of each other. We would see each other about every five years, if I attended class reunions. He always went. He has remained close to other classmates. I haven't. I don't care that much. My high school years were fraught with personal health issues and heartache and was the most unpleasant four years of my life. I was the "new" kid, moving into a school at the beginning of 6th grade, and was never accepted fully by my classmates. Oh, they were okay to me most of the time, but I never got into the "cliques" that are a part of those formative years. Even this classmate I saw Friday was not very kind at times.

We had a nice breakfast together, discussed retirement, our grandchildren, our kids, and some of the classmates from the past. We discussed who had died recently, and other than that, it was pretty uneventful. Am I sorry I went to meet for breakfast. No, not really. In fact, I came away feeling much better about myself. This class really tromped on my self esteem, and I found out that those I thought were so cool and successful, really weren't all that cool and not all that successful in life, either. The guy I met today never graduated from college, never had the chance to teach school like I did, never got to teach college English like I did, and really doesn't have a very happy marriage. Does this sound like I am bragging? Probably, but I don't really care. I figure after all these years, I deserve some bragging rights. I finally feel like I might just have "made the grade" with this group, if I cared enough to get together with them all and share where I have been and what I accomplished. But I really don't care that much anymore.

So maybe old acquaintances should not be forgotten, but they can be slipped into the back of the mind, and maybe, with a little luck, their memory will just slip away.

Slip-sliding away...

Peace,

JE