Tracks

I love this picture.  It reminds me of the movie Stand by Me.  No cares in the world, just walking with your friends.  This is a picture of my son with two of his friends.  The photographer of this picture has been friends with my son since the age of 3.  Basically, all of these kids have grown up together.  They have played together, hung around together, and even cried together at the loss of one of their good friends.  These friends were only on this earth approximately 16 years when they had to deal with one of life’s most painful experiences.  This is hard to deal with as an adult, but how about dealing with this as a teenager?  Quite a derailment.  One of my son’s friends said to me, “I want it to stay this way all the time.  I don’t want to grow apart or stop talking to Shaun or anybody else.”  My response to him was, “Sometimes it happens. However, every person plays their part.  I still talk to good friends I was in high school with.  Are we as close as we were in high school?  No, but we still get together, and that is a great feeling.”

Life is not about walking down one track.  As we all know, we all grow up and start traveling down different tracks.  You don’t ever think this will happen, but usually it does.  In elementary school, you are with the same kids for seven years.  The thought never crosses your mind that your circle of friends will break and you will start traveling down different tracks.  My circle of friends in elementary school was totally different than the friends I made in high school.  And you know what?  That’s ok.  In order to grow as a person, you need to sometimes pull the switch on your tracks and join with another set.  It is here that you get to experience life in many different ways. 

I am happy with the tracks that I have traveled on. J