photostory friday

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

(This is the first time participating in photostory Friday so I hope I followed the rules.... )

Sometimes photographs can bring us back to simpler times, feelings that have been buried for even longer. This photo was taken when I was a junior in high school. That is me, in the blue. My friend, Staci, is in the red with her date in the mint green. My date, Nathan, is on the far right. Staci and I played in a volleyball tournament that Saturday of Homecoming. We had traveled and were both tired but it was Homecoming! We went out to dinner, I can remember sitting in the restaurant, can't remember the name, but can visually see it in my head. I had started to date Nate the summer before...he had just graduated from the other local high school.

The memories that this photo brings back are many....my friendship with Staci and the relationship I had with Nathan. He was my first true love. Yes, I had other boyfriends prior to him~one I even dated again later in high school and often wondered what if he is the one? But Nathan always held a very special place with me. He had a lot of trouble in his life and at times, I felt sorry for him. I always loved him but felt sorry for him, too. Looking at this photograph brings me to simpler times as Nathan died a few years ago. He and I had been in touch on and off over the years but his passing made me look at things a bit differently....why wait for true happiness? Why say, well, if not now, then maybe in a few years? I realize everything can't come with immediate gratification but in the big picture of life, why wait? We have but one life and don't we owe it to ourselves to be happy? To be in the place where we want to be, not always worrying about the happiness of others? I have been known to be the people pleaser...putting my own happiness aside to make others come first. This is my life and don't I owe it to myself to be happy....if I am happier, won't the other people in my life also be happier?