Blast from the Past

Last week I turned 50.  I'm now a 1/2 a century old, and I feel so blessed to have my health, my husband, my parents, my children,my friends, and so much more.  Donnie and I decided that since we were both turning 50 this year, and all our High School friends were turning 50, we should throw a party.  We talked about it for months, but it wasn't until a High School friend of ours died in a tragic car crash in January, that our friend Svein said to us...Let's do it, lets throw that party, and celebrate Life.  We opened the party to any of our friends who were turning 50, and to any of their family and friends that they wanted to invite. 

The hall could hold about 150 people, but in the end we had about 65- 70 people who showed up.  A Friday night is not always easy for people to make, but no matter, it wasn't the number of the people who showed up, it was the atmosphere of the party.  We had a blast.  We sang Karaoke, We Ate, We Socialized, and We Danced.  We personified the quote "Live, Love, Laugh".  It was one of the best Birthday Presents I could ever have received, just having my friends and family all there. 

Another surprising gift came from the reason, I named this blog a Blast from the Past.  The past came to life last weekend with the party and our High School Friends, who were our past, are still our Present and God willing they will be our Future.  But an interesting Blast from my past came on my actual birthday 3/20.  I received a Birthday card from a girl, I went to High School with, (we weren't really friends in H.S.), but she ended up being my roommate my freshman year in College.  When I arrived at Westfield State College in the Fall of 1981, I saw on my dorm room door the names, Donovan, Doucette, and Dougherty.  What was really strange is that the three of us went to High School together, graduated in that order, and we never really knew each other in High School.  Anyway....I digress.  I only stayed at Westfield for one semester, but in that time, I grew very close to Beth Doucette, and I even sang at her Wedding in 1993.  We saw each other from time to time up till that point, but after she got married we lost touch completely.  I often thought of her over the years and I tried to find her, but it seemed like she just disappeared, so when I received her Birthday Card randomly out of the blue for my 50th Birthday, I could not have been happier.  It truly was a Blast from the Past.  We have reconnected through a few e-mails, and we are going to be calling each other today to catch up. 

Life goes by so quickly and people come and go, but it truly is a gift to blend your past, with your present and hopefully your future.  Sometimes we lose touch with people we care about, but this Birthday year of 50 taught me, that it is never to late to reconnect with people we have lost touch with, and that we should appreciate the friends we have had, the friends we have and the friends we are yet to make.  The "end" in Friendship, doesn't have to mean the "end" it can also mean a new beginning, a reconnecting, and just a true appreciation for a "Friend" old, or new.