thirty years

Years before,
We were young and fearless,
High expectations for our future;
Years later,
Reality sets in,
Expectations lessen,
The things we thought to be important aren’t so anymore,
Moments and memories became important, rather than the materialistic;
We let go and forgave the petty things done in high school,
Made amends of the bigger things in hopes to receive forgiveness,
No more judging of another, or at least there shouldn’t be,
We’re adults now, passed that,
learned from then to what not to do. 

We had dreams,
Some came true early,
Some came later on,
And some are still trying and dreaming of those dreams,
Nevertheless still achieving our dreams,

Thirty years,
Oh how quickly it goes;
Getting together after all these years,
Some we haven’t seen at all,
Others we catch glimpses of,
And some get to see a few all the time,
But the majority have grown up and moved away;
Together after thirty years,
At the reunion,
Reminiscing and remembering.

A table for others,
Gone too soon, but not forgotten,
Gone too soon from this earth,
Taken, stolen from us,
Never forgotten,
Always with us in our hearts,
They are like family,
They are family,
They are loved and missed everyday,
Making the toast of the night to them.
There will be more added, we are sure,
But hopefully not too soon.

I am truly blessed and fortunate,
To have graduated from such a small school,
Growing up in a small town,
(“Where everyone knows your name...”)
we all know one another to some extent,
Even if it’s only knowing their name and face, it’s a start;
I was one of the lucky ones,
I was not bullied, nor was I a bully;
I didn’t hang out with the “cool” kids back in the day,
But I talked to them, they talked to me,
They were kind to me,
Most of them anyway;
I wasn’t a loner,
Though at times I may have appeared as such,
I had my own group of friends,
We didn’t do drugs, or get into trouble with the law;
Through the years,
The “cool” kids have become my friends,
and some even became good friends,
They have gotten to know me,
And me knowing them;
We were young and naive back in the day,
We were young and stupid, who thought we knew everything,
Years go by, we grow,
We learn, we realized we didn’t know everything,
In fact, we didn’t know much of anything;
However, we made our mistakes,
Learned from them, hopefully,
Learned a little about life. 

The years might have put wear and tear on our bodies,
it has left a few scars, heck who am I kidding, a lot of scars.
The years have made us, most of us humble,
swallowing our pride, so we can move press on, 
Thinking of others before ourselves,
The years have taught us,
We are the same, yet different,
No one is better than another. 

Thirty years,
It doesn’t seem like a long time,
Until we think about it,
A lot has happened,
Yet not enough,
We lost a few over these thirty years,
Some have grown up,
Some, well some, let’s just say they seem to be the same,
But it may not be any fault of their own,
It’s just the way the cards were dealt,
It’s the road that was taken,
The best one at the time,
Not wrong or right,
No rhyme or reason,
It is what it is,
Making the best out of any situation,
That’s what it’s about.
Have faith,
Stay humble and kind,
See y'all again real soon.

morning crisp

Sipping hot coffee in the crisp morning air,
sitting on the deck listening to the birds sing their morning tunes,
watching the pups play while I drink my coffee,
reflecting on the past day,
remembering what needs to be done today,
planning for tomorrow,
enjoying life's simple pleasures with a cup of Joe.