Reunion Time. The Stories are Thick, Interwoven, Historical, and Syracuse-Connected. Time Moves On. Age Happens. These are the Moments

Phew. Crazy to flashback to 2008, 2009 and to imagine the crew in high school, before their graduations and before my departure to Connecticut. Edem plays soccer for a small school near Buffalo after two years of community college, then moves to Iowa for a job. Abu immediately goes to Brockport, but spends his summers on Mt. Pleasant working for CWP. During Covid, Edem moves to Connecticut for a place to be and to readjust after tumultuous times.

Yesterday, a reunion of sorts. Edem, his girlfriend, and their twins (not Abu and Lossine) live 17 miles from here in Waterbury. I still get his mail after he lived here for so many years, so he swung by not knowing Abu was in town. He was hoping for a quick exchange, but the reunion caused conversation (and arguments) which lasted a few hours. Mt. Pleasant was noisy again. Nothing like the battle of 'teenage boys' needing to one up each other...felt like Nottingham cafeteria all over again. It was beautiful to witness, but also hard, especially as they started talking about their aches and pains.

It's all good. The neighbor brought me a bag of Asian pears, and I read ways to best bake them to serve as a desert (they are sweet, like apples). Karal was walked, season five of The 100 was finished (crazy twist I wasn't expecting - Book One....all that was book one? Oi Vay). Abu and I killed off the grilled food with some pasta and then settled into NFL games.

So much happens in 17 years. Life. Growth. Maturity. Narrative, Complexity. Togetherness.

Okay, Monday. Back at it again with everything really picking up. Ah, but for the weekend, especially on Sunday, there was time to be with the good ol' days...some of the weird histories that began in Syracuse, New York and led to today.

Thankful for every moment. Humanity. Joy. Hard work. The American dream as we've always defined it.