Shifts

I was on Facebook the other day and happened to spend a few minutes surfing through the pages of people from High School that I have re-connected with. Some of the faces look similar to those I remember and some of them I would pass on the street and never know we spent our entire lives going to school together. I think of them still in the photo's from 5th grade or moments we might have had at school in a class.
What makes it so hard to shift from who I remember them as to who they are now? I guess it is about community. We spend so much time not interact at school (for some of my class mates and me) that my mind has locked them in to what I have remembered. I think this is also true of College friends. The friends we carry with us who journey though life after college together see the changes and feel them when we hang out. But I still have friends who, when we sit down together, time seems to stood still.

This happened this past December with a few of my guy friends from college. I crashed their hang out time and we played games for hours just like we use to. The same person complained when he started loosing and the other kept egging it on. Time in those moments seemed to be transcended, until I looked deeper. I found that I had shifted away from them, that I no longer had the same worries and concerns as before. The attraction I might have felt at 22 now brings a smile on my lips and I can see why that part of me liked them and why who I am now is glad we are friends. I can see why I would have needed them as friends, the rich stories they have brought into my life is invaluable.

I was amazed to find through Facebook someone from High School who is now a musician and another who is sold out for God. Maybe part of looking back is remembering who I was and how I don't want to be judged based on that. The shifts feel so subtle and small but they are huge jumps, huge changes in our hearts, and I am glad they happen.
(I didn't have a digital camera in HS so you get the first picture from HS and the rest of college and post college :) )