Walking The Talk
Walking The Talk
Life Is A Beach
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
I recently attended a high school mini reunion that took place at a bar overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway in Delray Beach, Florida. Seventeen people, including a few spouses, attended and it was a joyous affair set up by my dear friend, Leslie, who grew up next door to me on Long Island.
One attendee was a man I had gone to elementary school with and hadn’t seen in 45 years. He was there with his wife, whom I had also gone to school with. Some high school romances last forever.
Paul came up to me with a cellphone picture of the message I had written him in our high school year book. Apparently, I had had a crush on him in the third grade. After chuckling over that for a while, he asked, “What was your year book quote?”
I didn’t need to check the book to know the answer. It was, “My life is like a stroll upon the beach” by Henry David Thoreau. That started me to thinking about high school year book quotes in general and how they matched up with a person’s actual life experience. Forty-five years is enough to know how a life has panned out.
So, how has my life been like a stroll upon the beach? Well, I think that everyone’s life is like a stroll upon the beach. You just keep on moving forward (like a shark) and you never know what the tide is going to bring in. The waves can gently caress your toes or knock you down or sweep you away completely. You don’t know if you’re going to encounter sun or storm, stinging jellyfish, pearly shells or rotting fish. The sea offers us endless views of the horizon but we can only see so far. The beach is beautiful but full of surprises. And sometimes you walk it alone.
I have certainly lived my quote. Life has, indeed, been a stroll upon the beach. Beautiful. And terrible. And exciting. And cruel. And worth every minute of it.
Here are the quotes of those with whom I reunited in Delray Beach and who were members of my graduating class.
“Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.” (Leslie)
“Ten miles behind me, and ten thousand more to go.” (Craig)
“Your friend is your needs unanswered, for you come to him with your hunger, and you seek in him for peace.” (Amy)
“You are you and I am I, and if by chance we find each other, it’s beautiful.” (Fran)
“Only as long as we can laugh we are nobody else.” (Fran)
“The most wasted day of all is that on which we have not laughed.” (Don)
“What is a friend? I will tell you. It is a person with whom you dare to be yourself.” (Dene)
“To do something well is so worthwhile, that to die trying to do it cannot be foolhardy.” (Peter)
“You give but little when you give of your possessions, it is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” (Jeff)
“Home is behind, the world ahead; There are many paths yet to tread.” (Paul)
The quotes are all about laughter and friendship, presence and progress. The people who chose those quotes all had something in common at that mini reunion in Delray Beach besides graduating from the same high school on Long Island. They showed up in Florida 45 years later and made it happen.
They lived their quote. And mine.
This is a tribute to the seventeen people who attended the Herricks High School mini reunion which took place at Deck 84 in Delray Beach, Florida on February 18, 2017. Thank you for being there on that glorious day and for enriching my life from the start.
© Copyright 2017, Mindy Littman Holland. All rights reserved.