I recently went to my

Twenty-year high school reunion.

The jitteriness of the old

Teenage insecurities mostly

Dissipated as soon as I walked in the door

And was overcome with a

Flurry of hugs and squeals.

Some of these people I’d known since

I was five years old.

And now, incredibly,

We were standing around with

Drinks in our hands

Talking about our own five-year-olds.

Culturally, it’s easy to

Delineate a generation by its

Trappings:

Gadgets,

Clothing styles,

Current events at

Formative times.

But that night,

There was no talk of

Gas prices in 1994, or the

Clinton presidency,

Or that new “email” thing.

That night, the talk was about

Friends who couldn’t make it,

Our young children,

Astonishment that our

Parents were aging,

Some of them even

Dying.

In high school,

We had no idea that we

Wouldn’t always be

Supple and

Healthy,

With the world laid at our feet.

Twenty years on,

We were starting to understand

The truth

That’s made it easier to relate to

People in other stages of life:

We were once like you,

And we will one day be like you.