Life is Coming Full Circle

     I met Dr. Kristie Kemper in 1982. She was my journalism advisor my freshman year of college. We’ve stayed in touch over the years, mainly through Christmas cards, but it still came as a surprise when I saw her in a restaurant a couple of months ago. I got her attention, gave her a warm hug and told her that a second generation of my family was headed her way. Thirty-five years after I met Dr. Kemper, my daughter, my wife and I walked around that same college campus. I remembered that my daddy had worked briefly with a construction crew that helped that college rise from the ground. Two days later, my baby girl attended her first day of college, walking the very same hallway where I first met Dr. Kemper. My life has come full circle.

Beauty and The Beast

     My wife and I don’t have a lot of hobbies, but one thing we do enjoy is movie nights at home. When we found out that “Beauty and the Beast” was being released on DVD earlier this summer, we knew what movie we’d be renting next. We had been friends for a few years when I finally bent, and we started dating. It coincided with the time the animated “Beauty and the Beast” was first released. It became “our” movie. Twenty-six years later we found ourselves sitting watching the live action version unfold. I looked over at my bride of 24 years and smiled. The lyrics to the theme song is the beginning of our story:

“…Barely even friends
Then somebody bends
Unexpectedly

Just a little change
Small to say the least
Both a little scared
Neither one prepared…”

     I am unashamed to confess that my eyes filled with tears when I heard those word again. Once again, my life had come full circle.

Kaleb's Dad

     Earlier this summer, I had lunch with a friend from high school. We hadn’t seen each other since our kids were small, and the last time we ate lunch together may well have been our senior year in high school. Keith and I laughed, agonized and ate lunch at the same table for the better part of four years in high school. Honestly, we took the time for granted.

Keith’s only son, Kaleb, died on Mother’s Day in a skydiving accident. Kaleb was a brilliant, outside-the-box thinker who loved adventure sports. He would have graduated from the United States Air Force Academy at the end of May. Instead of the Steve Martin impersonations Keith entertained us with back in high school, Keith talked about Kaleb and shared his deep, abiding faith. Thirty-six years after we last shared lunch, we were sharing lunch again. Only, we didn’t take it for granted this time. Our lives have come full circle.

The Neighbors

     Here’s another one: We have new neighbors next door. They are a young couple with two little girls whose bicycles and playset have become a fixture in the previously toy-free back yard. Thirteen years ago, our family was the new family on our street, and it was our kids, just entering Pre-K and first grade, whose toys were in the back yard. I remember that our neighbors, the previous couple who lived in that house, told us how happy they were that we decorated our house inside and out for Christmas and Halloween. I have discovered that our neighbors love the holidays as much as we do.  It’s another circle.

I guess I could be sad about the passing of time and the closing of these circles, but I’m not. Instead, I’m looking forward to jack-o’-lanterns and two little girls asking to “trick-or-treat” at our front door. Like I said, full circle.