Chapter 46

46

I took a break in a book tour to attend a wedding over the weekend. The marrying couple and I have known each other for years. We used to play music together in a not so foggy past.

The wedding site was a relic, an archeological wasteland filled with bitter memories. I was different back then. I was lost in the middle of nowhere and refused to ask for directions. Somewhere along the way I was presented with a map and I followed it away, only to return for such monumental events.

I hear rumors now. Someone calls on a Tuesday afternoon and reports on the family I left behind. So and so is never around anymore and your friend’s wife has captured cancer. Such and such is separating from her long-term boyfriend and whomever is practically married with a kid.

But this weekend was different. Each attendee paused their daily lives to show up and honor this holy matrimony without work or spouse to interrupt. My once close-knit group of friends was reunited and just as I remember them.

We were inseparable once. Without a care in the world, a drive-in movie and piles of popcorn drew us together, a carefree camaraderie that we thought would never end. I tried to hold on to that version of our friendship, despite the odds, but eventually adulthood takes control and begins to pull each one of us away.

For one weekend we were free. No one had a job to attend to, no school to study for. The kids all behaved themselves (mostly) and the rent checks were put off for another day. A group of friends were reunited and were truly happy.

But that was yesterday. Today I sit and watch as my airplane makes its way to the gate. In ten minutes I will board and continue on with my life as my group of friends will continue on with theirs. When Sam gets back work will consume him, his twelve-hour days make it hard for him to focus on anything else. Rebecca will have her usual struggles making rent and Charles will disappear into his world, one where he is a loving husband and father.

And as much as I’m tempted to focus on the way things were, and how far we’ve all come as individuals, I can’t help but find a hint of sadness in the way things have become. For a weekend we were perfect again, a group of friends focused on the thrill of being around one another, but now it’s Monday morning and my plane is taxiing the runway.