CLASSMATES

(sigh)

I have no idea what has possessed me to think about high school classmates recently. I left the small town I grew up in for good in 1964 and didn't look back. I visit family there from time to time but don't feel any roots to that place. Sad, I suppose. Must be a character flaw since there are many still there with whom I grew up who love the town and the way of life it offers. It just wasn't for me. Or, maybe I just wasn't for IT.

I have warm and fuzzy memories as a young child growing up there, as evidenced by several blog posts along those lines. But as I grew older I found the small town to be stifling, and I looked forward to leaving it behind. I don't regret doing so. The south is a wonderful place overall -- full of history and steeped in memorable traditions. I love it all. I just didn't care for the ennui-producing facets of life in a mill town. Again, probably a character flaw of mine.

At any rate, I was thinking about those who were friends -- Linda D., Linda P., Mike, Tom, Jim, Eddie, Pixie, Whit, Gloria, Billy, Barry, Kitsie, Carolyn, Susan, Jeannette, Tres, Lynn, Andy, Anne, Barbara, Flo, Bobby, Earving, Wayne, Cindy, etc., etc. -- and wondering what they made of their lives and if they're happy. Some of them I know about; others, I don't. But they'll always be in my memories, and pleasant ones at that.

(sigh)