Reunion Redux.

I wrote this after one of my high school reunions a few years ago. We have shared marriages, death, sickness, happiness, joy and the rest of life's inevitable events at these rare gatherings, and the Internet has provided a central place to pray and care for each other. Shared age, shared goals, shared desire for joy and happiness, and a shared need for emotional support have been helpful to all of us. The shared human experience is augmented by our shared history. 

He sat at the table

looked around

and saw the images of his youth.

Each of the women

had been the subject of his inept fantasies

so many years ago.

He was awkward and unsure of himself then

and never asked them to dance.

His mind was elsewhere

and his face was always in a book.

He never went to the dances

or the parties.

He told himself

that he would be safe

with little human contact;

but, when he moved on to college

he had to learn those skills to get along.

He regretted that his adolescent self

missed sharing part of his life with them.

He looked around the table again.

He was happy that their radiant beauty remained

and the glow of their maturity

warmed him.

Their smiles reminded him of teenage passions

and long-lost loves.

He told them he loved them,

turned to the one he loved

and knew that his life

had meaning.