Where did my home go?

You can't go home again. How many times have you heard this? I'm not even sure who first said it, but they had some good insight. I am on vacation to my old stomping in Georgia, and today I decided to just drive around and look at my old town of Powder Springs.

Many things are still there: my old house, my old school, and even the Dairy Queen, for the longest time the only reliable place to eat in town. Many things weren't. The woods behind my house have been flattened in preparation for the new subdivision. Other things just popped up, more houses in many places, where nothing used to be. The only store near my old house was a gas station, I can 't even remember it's name. Now there's a Kroger, a couple of banks and even a medical center: all within walking distance.

Half of the streets I remember have been re-routed. Powder Springs road used to go straight into the heart of 'Old' downtown Powder Springs. It now bypasses it almost completely, including the hill I used to learn how to start a stick shift on a hill.

I guess I ramble for one point: If you want to go home again, do it right away or you won't recognize it when you get there. Progress waits for no man or woman.

Old Friends ... New Friends

In high school, I had a circle of friends. Without those friends I don't think I would have made it through school. They kept me grounded. We gamed a little, went to church a little, hung out a lot. Now, some 16+ years later. We aren't friends anymore.

It's not that we hate each other now, we've all grown up now. And grown away. Some of us moved away, all of us moved on.

I just met with some of those friends. Now there is some water under the bridge, under a flaming bridge actually. None of us ever thought we would meet each other again, much less speak to each other. And yet, at an outdoor table at the friendly neighborhood Starbucks, we spoke for two hours. We caught up on what has happened in our lives since. The spouses and x-spouses, the jobs we have, what we like and dislike about them. The general stuff.

We talked about some of our mutual friends and what they have been up to. This is what I have learned tonight. Things change. Wow, I bet that's a shocker. Did ya see that one coming.

I am not the same person I was 16 years ago, but neither are my friends. I don't think any of us are in the place we thought we would be at this time. Yet, we do all seem happy, content in our current place, able to continue with our lives. Life goes on and so have we.

So our friends change, new acquaintances, new co-workers. If you are able to hold a friendship for 20 years or so, you are blessed, as I believe my two friends are blessed.

The results of my evening, I hope to have made to new friends. The old friends are there, but the old friendship is not, those days have passed. I hope to keep my two new friends, they will be long distance friends for now, but friends none the less.

Wish me luck!