Most Likely To Succeed

Imagine.

After having tripped sufficiently, tired, I decided to conclude my journey. As I mentally prepared to make my reentry back to the future so I could go to bed, I decided to visit one more page. I hesitated and then I cautiously clicked:

“In Memory of”

I was tentative because I was reluctant to learn which were the ones who were no longer with us, and why.

I read each and every word of every single entry in an attempt to privately honor the lives that my classmates had lived. The more I read, the more I wondered about them and who they really were; about the stuff that wasn’t written down. Had life lived up to their expectations? What would they have done differently if they could do it all again? I thought about the words that had been left unspoken; about the dreams that would remain unfulfilled. Time waits for no one. Time doesn’t need our consent to march on and it doesn’t require our attention to leave its unavoidable mark on our lives. That’s not something that they teach you in high school.

You never know when something might happen that will threaten to alter the way that you perceive your existing reality.

I didn’t expect when I woke up that morning that by the time I went to bed that night, my private little universe would be altered because I was able, for a moment anyway, to take a trip back to school. That high school class reunion website rocked my world because it provided me with a profound and meaningful opportunity to examine my life in a different way. It humbled my heart and renewed my commitment to live my life to the fullest.

Remembering the people and the places of my childhood woke me up to the fact that I neglected to stop and smell the roses, and it forced me to deal with the reality that a “do-over” is something that we took for granted on the playground, once upon a time. Remembering reminded me of all the dreams that I had back then, and challenged me to confront the fact that I am not even halfway to where I want to be.