Finding the Same Place

Last night I had a conversation that I won't soon forget with some really good friends. Both of these friends now live in much different places than Forest City -- one in a big city and the other in a foreign country. But for an evening we were reunited in our hometown and I discovered that our journeys over the last few years had brought all of us to a very similar place in life.

Questioning our surroundings. Questioning our beliefs. But finding confirmation of the incredible complexity and beauty of life in the everyday, simple occurrences that have presented themselves to us.

We talked about religion, spirituality, sexuality, high school and college memories, plans for the future and much more....it was a refreshingly open conversation.

All 3 of us grew up as strong to "medium-strong" Christians but I think all of us agreed that our experiences in life had created lots of questions regarding our childhood faith.

Two of us probably would no longer classify our beliefs as Christian, while one of us was still confident in Christianity but similarly confident about the validity of other beliefs.

We put down a couple bottles of red wine over the course of the evening, ate some pistachios, listened to John Mayer, Keane and La Roux, and read a David Sedaris story. The TV was never turned on.

Shortly after midnight, my friends left for their parent's houses.

They will soon be traveling to places far away from Forest City to enjoy their own journeys. At least for a while, though, we were able to inhabit the same place -- long enough to realize that our journeys were bringing us closer, even as we began to travel away from each other once again.

"Life may scatter us and keep us apart; it may prevent us from thinking very often of one another; but we know that our comrades are somewhere "out there" - where, one can hardly say - silent, forgotten, but deeply faithful. And when our path crosses theirs, they greet us with such magnificent joy, shake us so gaily by the shoulders! Indeed we are accustomed to waiting." --- antoine saint exupery, 'wind, sand and stars'

Enjoy the ride,
Damm