What I Like About Summer

Cutter's Log - Stardate 2102.30.70
Current Song - This Town (OAR)

Summer is always a feel-good month for me.

The prep sports slate is practically non-existant, so it means I get plenty of extra time to do different things.

But perhaps the best thing about summer is that I get to see many of my friends a little more often - these classmates of mine that have moved away and all that coming back for a visit.

Because I'm both so busy and so shy, I use Facebook to keep up with the friends that I went to school with. I get caught up with that's happening with all of them - sort of like a friend-themed personal newspaper, or an old newspaper gossip section.

(It's interesting: Facebook and Twitter's great-great grandparents are those old gossip paragraphs from the turn-of-the-20th century newspapers. "Joseph Blow rode to Yorktown from Tampico on horseback to deliver five bags of flour to H.R. Pufunstuf.")

All I hear is news, however. To me, knowing that my friends are still around and seeing them makes me feel good inside. When you've grown up with the all throughout school, they become a permanent etch in your life. After they're gone, this sort of gives me an empty feeling.You're not used to life without them, and you struggle to accept the fact that they're off doing their own thing.

That's why I like class reunions. Our SHS 2005 met a couple of summers ago. It was great to see everyone they way I remember them. I fet more at home when around them than, say, people I only knew after graduation.

There were a few friends from school that stopped in at Shell when I was working. It was really great to see them again - and they said the same.

***

The more I think about it as I write all of this, it's kind of like saying, "I don't want new friends, I want my current friends." Just like the day I moved from Rock Falls to Sterling, 15 years ago.

Of course, you'll meet plenty of new people along the way, and I did throughout my years as a Challand/SHS student.

However, as more and more times goes on, the value of the friends you've known the longest gets better. The value is even greater if there's consistency in that friendship.

There are friends that I have known for more than 20 years - dating back to my pre-school days at Wallace. This fall, I will have known my friends from Mrs. Kallam's kindergarten class (Jefferson) for 20. This winter, I will have know my friends from Mrs. Hafner's kindergarten class (Jefferson) for 20, including the first person I ever called my best friend - Seth.

All friendships seem to come and drift off over time, but the longer, more consistent and more interactive they are, the better.

No friend should really outweigh another, but the joy of seeing certain people, to me, sometimes is greater than others. We all have that feeling, but just can't find ourselves to admit it.