Sense of Wonder

I have once (or twice) been accused of being too nostalgic. I admit that it's true. I dwell on old memories far too much.

I feel a sense of awe when looking at old grade school class photos. The shared experiences of those days. Looking at the faces of youth and realizing that you had no clue how each life would eventually play out. Where you all would be fifty-plus years later. Many of us still around. Too many though that have passed away. I wish somehow that a book had been put together of each persons life. Such a book I would read, cover to cover. Every sentence, every word. Not skipping over the story of a single old classmate. Even those where the shared experiences was limited to just sitting in the same classroom, with no interaction beyond that room.

I often look back from the viewpoint of all these years later, shake my head and feel sooooo ..... I can't even come up with a word to express the feeling. Maybe like the title of the Van Morrison album, "A Sense of Wonder."  Wonder as in amazement. Amazement that often aches in my soul. If that's the definition of nostagic, then I'm guilty. I would love to time travel back to those days for a short visit. I might just choose to stay.

There's just so many things that could have happened at any point to alter each persons course. Moments that could easily resulted in a much different history. Things that seem so insignificant but that can change the timing of events where the influential factor was a matter of just a few seconds.

I look at the group photo taken immediately after my classes first communion. All of us, six or seven years old. Each one of us looking happy and innocent with no idea of what was in our future. I think of what I know of each persons life since those days ..... College, jobs, moving elsewhere, marriages, kids, grandchildren, those lost along the way, etc.. And everything in-between. Even those who just seem to have vanished over the years.

But I still feel that initial bond!!!