Looking to the past

I came across a photo album from college a few weeks ago. Pictures of friends, roommates, shows I did, puppetry tours I went on. All of the pictures make me smile, some more than others. Some brought back memories of people I haven't thought of in years. Some are of people that I still think of from time to time and I'm still in contact with, even though we're spread out across the country. I graduated in 1996, and most of these people I haven't seen since then. I've seen recent pictures of some of them, and it's funny how much has changed, and how much hasn't. Some of us are married, some have kids, some are divorced, some have never married. Our lives intersected for a few brief years and then spun off in different directions. Some of the friendship bonds are still tight, and some have broken.

One of my favorite pictures was taken Christmas Eve 1993. I was on a puppet tour at a resort hotel, and we were enjoying some down time in a sitting area. KC, M, J, and I are sitting on a sofa, with tiny D laying across our laps. We visited this resort every Easter and Christmas, doing puppet shows and holding puppet building workshops for the guests' children. And for poor college kids.....a room at a 5-star resort and breakfast and dinner for a few days were more than enough payment for a few shows and workshops. While I was growing up, Christmas Eve was when my family gathered for the big dinner. So this picture, taken on Christmas Eve, after we'd had a lovely dinner and performed our show for the evening, represents another kind of family in a way.....

There's pics of SC, my roomie and friend, with whom I had so many adventures...getting lost in Pittsburgh, getting lost in Baltimore, getting lost in Maryland....actually Virginia--we went the wrong way around the DC beltway! Pictures of SP and C, more roomies and friends. Pictures of J, the first person I met at college and still a very good friend. Pictures of KS, J's roomie and another friend. I have fond memories of the 6 of us watching lots of movies on the weekends....Each of these people challenged me in different ways, forced me to grow....put me on the path to become who I am today. And I hope I did the same for them.

So I look at these photographs, these snapshots of the past, and realize that what once was, is no longer.....things change, people change, but it's nice to revisit the past, see where we were, who we were. And remember the good times we had. And maybe someday we'll all be in the same place again and have new memories to add to the collection.