Cast of Characters

The 10 year HS Reunion, actually kind of a crazy concept.  I mean when looked at superficially it's just a group of people who spent some time together in a certain place who are doing a check-in a few years later.  I guess, like always, I like to dig a little deeper.....so here it is:

Ultimately, since we were little kids, we've been putting this insane cast of characters in our lives.  I still remember having a crush on Melissa Rossi in 2nd grade...I remember every person who ever said something hateful to me...and most importantly I remember the people I was with during the most defining moments of my High School career (for me that was graduation, mock trial, speech and debate, etc.).  So even though I sit here 10 years later I would be ignorant not to acknowledge the huge importance of a majority of these people,  oddly even the ones who were assholes.  

So that brings us to now...to a room in a hotel filled with people that you spent a part of your life with.  So initially I thought that this exercise would really be about seeing what people looked like...who was married?...who had babies?...and a series of other catty bullshit that I'm embarrassed to even admit to thinking.  But here's the catch:  This Reunion, for me, had almost nothing to do with what everyone else was doing, but rather became this self-evaluation of the person I had become--  in small ways thanks to a select number of people in this room.   When you're 17 years old you're almost not capable of saying to a friend, "Hey...You're important to me...thanks."  But as I looked around at the Reunion after-party (for lack of a better term)....I found myself surrounded by people who were more important and influential to me than I might have ever let them know...maybe this night was my chance to do that....even if just through a wide smile and firm hug.

As I talked to people I was genuinely excited to hear about their successes...it actually felt really great...an amazing sense of catharsis.  And on the flip side it was also refreshing to know that some people chose to pretend that they had no idea who you were...and at all costs didn't make any form of eye contact.  This was refreshing solely because life needs a balance of ignorance to genuineness-- it's what brings up the stock of the good guys.  

Most importantly this became a night of telling stories...and laughing...and drinking.  I woke up today with a sore throat....and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.  So here's a toast to the Class of 2000....the good and the bad.  A toast to a cast of characters who in very certain ways helped make us exactly who we are today.

journey

     I have called Philadelphia my home for 6 years.   This is the place where I had my first significant relationship...the place where I watched and had a lot to do with that relationship blowing up in my face....and also the place where we somehow pieced things back together to create maybe the most important friendship of my life --scratch that...absolutely the most important friendship in my life.
     This is the place where I met a group of friends that just seemed to work....friends that really thrived on the fact that we're all just a little insane.  These are friends who can make fun of themselves...who laugh at ridiculous things....who talk about prescription deodorant at dinner....who imitate ventriloquists at bars...who try to imagine what life would be like if you had no elbow or no knees........not that these friends can't also be as equally serious....but the reality is that nothing should be taken too seriously.
     This is the place where I worked with a group of people who leveraged me...who pushed me grow...not only as a merchant, but as a person....people who inspired me and helped me realize what I can do.  It's one thing to simply go to a job monotonously....it is a complete other to actually wholeheartedly like the people you work with.  This isn't to say that everything about work was kittens and candy canes.....but you take the good with the bad....and ultimately I had a hell of a lot of good.
   This is the place where I found the most incredible casual acquaintances-- from gym...the supermarket...the carwash....and you all know who I mean....the supporting cast in our life....the people who fill in the pieces....the friendly faces who are sadly only noticed when they aren't there anymore.  I've always made is a goal to learn about these people...even if it was just enough information to call them by their first name....or ask them about their kids.  I like knowing that people have stories...and I like that they are part of mine.
     This is the place where I found a love to yoga....where maybe I needed to find a love for yoga.   But as much as yoga is an experience of self actualization...it is also socially fulfilling....more friendly faces....inspiring teachers....and sharing it with people you care about.
    So I guess I got to thinking how can I just leave all of this....best friends...familiarity...co-workers who are more like family?  But then I have to step back and say that I'm not leaving any of it....not a single thing, person or memory.....I carry it all with me...because part of me needs to...but most of me just wants to.  As my new journey in life unfolds and takes me in new directions I have to believe that no matter what I evolve into...every person who has come in my life (in big or small way) has left a mark that in some insane way makes me....me.
     Life is not about places.....it's about people and experiences........this is the way I live.