Nostaglia

Warning..I am crafting this post in the midst of a seven day stretch of working. I usually only work 2 or 3 nights at a time. My take on seven is that while it hasn't totally sucked, I wouldn't want to make a regular habit out of it. The last two nights I have gone into work at 2 in the morning which is just bizarre and in many ways pointless. I feel like I want to call before going in, as to say, "Really, do you need me? Because my bed is looking pretty dang comfy!" Of course I don't do that, I make my way to my beloved ER :) (bit of an exaggeration) and settle in for a few hours of crisis intervention, mental health assessment, or whatever other randomness appears on our doorstep, and believe you me, we get some seriously random, strange things going on in the middle of the night.
Part of the reason that I was able to pick up this many shifts is that Jeff and the kids have been up with Jeff's family in Ludington, MI. They have had a wonderful time playing in the pool, riding go karts, playing with cousins, and making smores. All the ingredients that make childhood and especially being a child in Michigan during the summer glorious. I have really come to love our state lately. It really is so beautiful. The other night, in the midst of a horrid heat wave, I threw caution to the wind and packed us all up for an impromptu beach night in South Haven. South Haven is a great beach town a mere 45 minutes from Kalamazoo. It was the best decision I have made in a long time. The kids were great, the water felt perfect and as the sun set, seemingly by melting into Lake Michigan, it was one of those moments where you think, "Dang. Life is so freaking great." Then the kids got sand all over the car and it was back to reality:) Kidding, kind of.
This weekend, after the seven day stretch, I am taking my weary soul to my 20th high school reunion. Part of me is excited and part of me is a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of seeing individuals I haven't laid eyes on in twenty years. Thinking about seeing all of the this has me thinking about the transitions we make with our circle of friends, the people we do life with in any given moment or season. As I think back to 1993, I remember that we lived in Midland, MI and never in a million years did I think that my parents wouldn't live there for the rest of their lives. (not my first naive thought)  It is interesting to note that since 1993, they have lived in Canada, Texas, Florida and Illinois!  I knew without a doubt that my best friends  from high school, would always be my best friends. This I am proud to say, has held largely true. I am proud that I am the kind of girl and friend who tends to be pretty loyal. I am still very close with several of my high school girlies. But, in the last twenty years, I have had plenty of friendships come and go. I have met many people who I thought, we will be friends forever and then months later thought, good lord, no..never again. I have let go of some friendships where I realized that it shouldn't be so much work and effort to be in a friendship, and I have learned to let go of making this some one's fault. Things change, people change, jobs change, people get married, people get divorced, people move on. Sometimes these changes are sad and traumatic, but in my experience, mostly I love anticipating whose next. If I had never moved, I would not have met some of the greatest friends I have. I have no idea what any of this means or why I felt compelled to post about it? I blame the seven days and cumulative lack of sleep. Or maybe it was the double dose of the knock off Unisom?