THE FRIENDS WE HAD BACK THEN

I noticed my old high school yearbook on the shelf where it has stood

for many years and when I opened it I thought…it smelled like childhood.

Browsing through its pages…much to my delight

I found myself and many old friends…looking good in black and white.

Most of the faces I remember…some I did not know.

Moments captured for eternity from a time long, long ago.

There was Rollie, there was Marilyn, there was me…and Joe and John

We spent many moments together…and then in a moment…we were gone.

Gone on to our futures…wondering what we might find…

excited at the possibilities…grateful for the friends we left behind…

I did not know back then…(I was much too young to see)

how the people in my yearbook…would help determine who I’d be.

I had no way of knowing…(I was as yet unaware)

that I wouldn’t be standing where I am today

If I hand’t been standing there.

Standing with my childhood friends 

friends who somehow found a way

to help transform the boy I was

into the man I am today.

I wonder… isn’t that true for many of us

as we visit our yearbooks once again?

For where would we all be today…

without the friends we had back then.