Reconnected After 24 Years

Pain. 

I feel a sharp, aching pain in my stomach. 

I am afraid that I may have herniated something from laughing uproariously for roughly 96-hours straight. 

Why was I laughing so violently?  I was laughing because I was surrounded by love, by trust, and by friendship that runs so deep into the root of my soul and entire being.   Eight friends, all that grew up in the same small Iowa town of Ames, coming together after nearly 25 years in a small Colorado mountain town can do that to you.  And it was the best kind of pain one could ever ask for.

We came from all across the United States to embark upon this weekend of skiing and sharing; learning and joking; dining and crying; remembering and feeling; and most of all, laughing.  We came from New York, Iowa, California, Oregon, Minnesota, Colorado, and Maryland to be together.  We came with no pretention, no judgment, and no expectation for what a long-weekend together might hold, as the sole purpose was simply to reunite this group of high school classmates.  As organically as we had shuffled into a classroom together at the age of 14, we now shuffled into a beautiful mountain respite overlooking the majestic Rocky Mountains.

These eight men, whom I last knew as just boys, warmly embraced each other in welcome, and immediately picked up where we last left off over two-decades ago. 

Pictured L to R: Jon Dale, Scott Whiteford, Eric Warme, Scott Belzer, Michael Pollmann, Seth Anderson, Spenser Villwock, and Bryce Freeman.

There is something haunting, yet something comforting about that fact.  The faces, so familiar, yet with new creases to remind us that the bitch called time had passed.  These faces walked in, just as they had done in a gym class in 10^th grade and across the graduation stage in 1992. 

The voices, only slightly more worn than our last conversation when we were freshly post-puberty. Today, these voices were like a brilliant symphony, melodically comforting and lifting an epic weight off of your mind, body, and soul.  These were faces and voices that have echoed in my mind and in my dreams since we were just children.  Am I dreaming now?  If so, I don’t want to wake up yet.

We talked about old times together, growing up in Ames, Iowa, and the memories were so vivid and so real that it most certainly was only last week that they took place.  At one point, I worried for a brief moment as to who would buy us beer, as I completely forgot that we were all actually well over 21 years old.  The potency of coming together after all these years to share space, to share stories, and to embrace each other will transport you back instantly.  I now believe in time travel, and it has nothing to do with a Flux Capacitor, it has to do with reconnecting with the Brotherhood of your youth.

We talked about all the fill-in-the-blanks since we last knew what each other wore to school on a daily basis.  There have been adventures, there have been challenges—each one of us has lived and loved, and each one of us has lost.  I am proud to know these men, who carried on the shadows of who they were in their youth to become great men, great human beings.  We helped each other this weekend.  We helped each other validate our lives, our guesses, and our choices.  We learned that we are not alone in this fight though the beautiful landscape of life.  We learned that we can count on each other.  After a 24-year gap, we can laugh, we can cry, and we can count on each other no matter what.

Boyz, you know who you are, thank you.  Thank you for the gifts that you gave me then and the gifts that you gave me now.  I love and respect each one of you more than you may ever know.  Nursing this pulled muscle from so much laughter the past few days, I am forever humbled and forever grateful.  Miles may separate each one of us, yet we will always only be heartstrings apart.