OLD TIMES

A few days ago I had a great lunch with an old buddy of mine from High school! At a very fancy restaurant, two kids, or should I say two old kids got together that used to play pool in my basement when we were hot shots.

46 years ago no one would have thought that that lunch would occur, and why should they? Here we are retired and old, not dead, but old: reliving our youth, as if it was yesterday. We covered our careers and lives, exchanging family information, but the conversation really was about those we knew from the old days.

We talked about the reunion and people who passed on, things we had done and people we had seen since those youthful, fruitful days.

If you remember, Ken was the fellow we all thought was dead, until he showed up on my computer screen in the form of an email. When I saw who the email was from, I wondered how you get an email account while in heaven. Being he was such a good person, and even though he was a friend of mine, I figured him for heaven.

Now only one of us is dead.

Two hours sped by, crashing into the wall of finished pasta plates and coffee. Time robs you of a lot if you are not careful. It robbed me of friendships no longer current, of a sense of home being with people you like, and most of all, it robs you of the times you should have had.

Long ago, but not so very long ago
The world was different, oh yes it was
You settled down and you built a town
and made it live
And you watched it grow
It was your town

Time goes by, time brings changes,
you change, too
Nothing comes that you can't handle,
so on you go
Never see it coming,
the world caves in on you
On your town
Nothing you can do.

Main street isn't main street anymore
Lights don't shine as brightly as
they shone before
Tell the truth, lights don't shine at all
In our town

Sun comes up each morning
Just like it's always done
Get up, go to work, start the day,
Open up for business that's never gonna come
As the world rolls by a million miles away

Main street isn't main street anymore
No one seems to need us like they did before
It's hard to find a reason left to stay
But it's our town
Love it anyway
Come what may, it's our town.