Time is on my side, yes it is
Time is on my side, yes it is
Now you always say
That you want to be free
But you'll come running back (said you would baby)
You'll come running back (I said so many times before)
You'll come running back to me.
The Rolling Stones/Meade
I went to a reunion of sorts.
A girl I used to hang out with in highschool was celebrating her 36th birthday and her husband threw her a surprise party for it. Yes, there was a theme (Prom-Enchantment Under the Sea), Yes, it was kinda cheesy (but it was supposed to be), and yes, I feel bloody old after meeting these people I knew from-way-back-when, and seeing their grown kids have their own party downstairs in the basement while the elders mingled over pickles-on-toothpicks, white wine and lite beer.
I wanted to be one of the ones downstairs.
The surprise part of the party was supposed to be set for 7. Of course, coming from out of town, we arrived at 7:15. We saw a whole string of cars but no birthday girl. So we took off for the next town over, and toured the old neighbourhood, the place I grew up in. It was one of the first subdivisions built in that city, and we have pictures of the street where all the trees are four foot saplings, with only the occasional giant looming nearby. Like most subdivisions, the tallest objects were the streetlights that lined the roads at precise intervals. Every house looked the same, every lawn the same square foot.
Coming back to that area, I was overwhelmed by greenery. It had been raining all evening, and the air was fresh with all things growing. The scent of grass and most of all, the perfume of lilac followed us throughout the neighbourhood as my twin and I pointed at houses that once belonged to childhood friends and neighbours. The saplings had grown as tall as towers, and it was awesome to me. The trees were a canopy, I thought, covering this small area that I once knew every step of. The trees seemed to cradle the many homes of new families in their starter homes, for now, the original owners have either left, or passed on.
There wasn't a single soul out walking or playing on the streets, but the lights were on in many of the houses, and in my old house, in particular. It looked different. I didn't want to look for too long. I'd rather keep the memory of what it was to me, than to catologue all the changes the years have brought on.
But the trees. The trees were new to me, and it was definitely good.
Since the reunion of sorts, I've been having all kinds of crazy-assed dreams involving people I knew from highschool, running in and out of my own workplace horrors. I'm due for training this week (a lovely four-hour course dealing with building long-lasting relationships within a 4 minute call) and I know the score. The last time we had a training session like this, it was because we were going to jack up the pricing on all rate plans and additional services. Bastards.
I'm looking forward, (not really) to a longer than usual stretch at work, a full seven days of bullshit, no weekend off. My girl is going up north to visit my brother, sister-in-law and her new baby cousin. I'll be alone again, and it will only serve to remind me that it all changes. Nothing stays the same. But she'll be back. Back to me again.