Different Paths

When I was in high school there was a core group of friends that I ran around with. I think this is pretty common for most people. What is not as common I think is that most of us still see each other on a regular basic. But there are a few people I lose track of from time to time. One of my friends, RJ, signed up for the army right after high school. We kept in ok contact with him seeing him a few times a year, when he finished his tour he went to school out in Madison WI and we saw him a little more often. During college he was in the National Guard and before he graduated he was activated. At that point we kind of lost track of him. Seeing him for briefly when we found out he was married and he had a reception back home, again a couple years later at my wedding, and then again a few days ago. It was great to catch up with him but what really struck me is how different not just RJ’s but everyone’s paths through life have been over the last 12 years or so.

RJ is the most striking. He spent years in the military, first in the infantry (airborne) and then learning Arabic and join counter-intelligence. He has been in all those places we see in the news and I am sure done things that most people would only see in movies. He now lives on the beach – ala Mel Gibson in the Lethal Weapon just on the opposite coast – and works for a military contractor training forces around the globe in counter intelligence. He has a bull dog and wants to be a teacher in a few years when he gets out of his current business. Many of the things that he told us about his life certainly raised our eyebrows and had quite a time finding out about his adventures.

Thinking about it we were all in the same place at one time or another. But each of us has made a range of decisions that have taken into drastically different direction. Some are now business owners, some have moved out of the state, many have college degrees or a couple degrees, some didn’t finish college and have found other paths, some have families while some don’t. It didn’t seem like time moved that fast. It didn’t seem like anyone was changing that much at any given time. In fact it is only in the aggregate that people’s lives strike me as having gone through such amazingly different paths. I don’t know why I never saw this happening at the time. I guess it feels normal not to talk to someone for a couple months, then a year, then maybe two. But so much can happen in those years; marriages, divorces, kids, jobs, adventures, illness, creation of business, schooling, or any other of the events or endeavors that humans participate in.

I am glad though that my friends are strong enough to bridge time and that I seem to be able to pick up with most people at the same place we left off. It make my life that more interesting to hear and join in on their adventures as well. Hopefully our path’s continue to cross.