You Can Go Home
While visiting my folks back home recently, a very old friend contacted me. This in itself is not very unusual, but considering the effort I have put forth into keeping my past at bay, the successful contact was quite a feat. To see people who knew you when you were just beginning to discover yourself, knew you when all that mattered was having a good time, knew you when you were just a dumb punk, is a bit refreshing.
I have not seen these friends for approximately 10 years, which puts me at about 24 or so when I last shared laughs and traded rounds with them. I like to think I have changed a lot since then, for the better I hope, but you never really lose who you become through those crucial years of your life, do you? I split off, like friends often do through time (and stubbornness) and often over these last several years I have thought fondly of them. At that point in my life I still had a lot to figure out and times got very tough after I moved on without them. What I didn't realize then was that it would have been beneficial to me to still have that group to lean on rather than try to steer my life all on my own. Naturally, one only comes to those conclusions after the fact. The Infinite Jest and all that...
Some things haven't changed and a lot has, but that's the beauty of life, right? You move forward learning what you can from each person that touches your life and hopefully, if you are lucky enough, you put that knowledge to good use.
Fuck.
I hope I'm lucky enough.