A week from today I will greet the morning in Big Sky, Montana in the company of four dear college friends. This reunion will honor our 60th birthdays with a heart-stopping itinerary organized by our host, that includes: hiking, horseback riding, dining and drinking in assorted “moonlight” yurts and such, canoeing, paddle boarding, mountain biking, fly fishing, hot tubbing, yoga and a private tour of Yellowstone National Park. I am slightly giddy with anticipation and infinitely grateful for this opportunity to reconnect with my Bucknell roomies to hug, reminisce, catch up, laugh, cry and revel in our reunion; the last one took place twenty years ago. So, what has happened over one-third of our lives? That’s a big question!
Writing allows me the space to revel in the anticipation of this trip and reflect on how it came together. It took many emails, calls, calendar checks and back and forth communication. Making these five days a priority was the goal; the side benefit was the reconnection, and social channels like LinkedIn and Instagram were the magical windows that gave us a view into each other’s lives. Twenty years ago, as the world pondered the implications of Y2K, I celebrated thirteen years of marriage and jumped back into full-time work. My boys were three and seven, I lived in Michigan, my parents and in-laws were alive, Gore won but lost the election and 9/11 was on the horizon. I was living out a full, boisterous life, focused on family, work and play.
How do you measure twenty years? How do you plan for the next twenty? How can you land more fully and gracefully in the present? Look for the answer inside your question. ~ Rumi