Retrospective

So my 10 Year High School Reunion is coming up. I graduated a year early so really all my friends are class of 2004. When we speak of all the people who won't be there I keep wanting to mention people who weren't in our class. Like the girl I ate lunch with, and the guy who taught me how to Ollie who actually ended up killing her. They were starting a family and instead of making a family made an orphan.
Like the family who were murdered down the street from my old manager. She didn't believe me when I told her that the mother used to be my babysitter. That the father came to see me at work the day before he died asking if I could loan him three grand or knew where he could get drugs. This does not make me think less of them. If anything it reminds me of how strong the people I've known have been. It reminds me of how much they had to overcome and how so few have managed to do it.
It takes so much to, not just walk away, but to never look back. When it comes down to it we are all Lot's Wife, we all want nothing more than the opportunity to look over our shoulders and see what has happened to those we've left behind. Looking back does not condemn us to inaction. It merely requires that we acknowledge where we've come from.