All Those Years Ago
I have always had a problem with memories. Good or bad, they have always had a way of making me melancholy and sad. As a youngster the time right before I fell asleep was always torture, with memories of younger years presenting themselves to me as a slideshow of what was clear and focused, yet no longer tangible. As I have grown older my solution to this mental Guantanamo was to reject the past as vehemently as possible and to focus clearly on the present moment.
For instance, right now I am listening to “Steal Away” by Robbie Dupree from 1980. But rather than allow myself to begin meandering through my memory files from that time period, with the song as a soundtrack, I reframe the song to represent something new. Currently it holds a place as the music playing in a scene that has been rolling around in my head about a man sitting on the toilet in a public restroom when suddenly…
Wow, do I know how to digress from my original point! Okay, back on point.
I try and keep memories in their proper place: The Past.
Then about a month ago all these pictures from my college days started popping up on a Facebook Group. Suddenly I was bombarded by these youthful photos from THE PAST. This threatened to send me into the catacombs of the memory files. This threatened to derail my long developed theory that “You’re better today than you were yesterday.”
But…it didn’t.
In fact, it confirmed it. Looking back through those photos showed me that, aside from the hideous bush of a hairstyle I walked around with, I am lacking nothing from those days. The pictures laid waste to the notion that youth is something to be coveted. As my addiction to the photos grew stronger I saw this confirmed in every past and present photo of my “old” friends. Each and every one of them has evolved into a remarkable person. All of them are better today than they were yesterday.
This was made even more apparent when a few of us gathered together (In person) last Friday.
Ron Vigil
Aaron Christensen
Tom Sturgeon
Kent Shelton
Laura Krausa
And, as if I needed any more conformation that the present is far sweeter than the past…
I thank you all for a wonderful evening.