Memories .. packed in a time capsule

I'm kinda at a loss for words really. Usually I can think of just one word to describe an experience but not today. Today was a very good day, most welcomed, after a string of very very bad ones.

It's hard to separate the personal feelings from the "bloggable" ones after today. But it was truly a day of reflection. Going back to whats most important, where did I come from, and where am I going now and why? Am I making the right decisions? It was *my* kind of day to be sure as there really is nothing I enjoy more than reflection. I love to think.

Why was today so special you may ask?

Well, today we opened our time capsule that we *buried* nigh on 22 years ago while in our Youth Group at Cobalt Village General Baptist Church. Yeah. It's as quaint and "Andy Griffith" as it sounds. And if you make fun of it, I'll tear down your website and replace it with random pictures of cows or something.

There were a lot of no-shows for the unveiling of said time capsule. But that's to be expected. I mean not everyone looks as good as I do after 22 years - I can understand their hesitation. Ahem.

Actually, I think the most awkward part of the day was when I was telling Heather and Josh about certain sites on the way to the church. I said, "in that house right over there across the street from this church I had my first kiss and her name was Dawn Rehkop." (Dawn if you happen to read this I'm sorry.)

Immediately after I said that we kinda laughed and I saw my friend Ed strolling across the parking lot. One of the FIRST things he said to me was "Dawn's here."

Oh great.

So while I attempted to locate my foot which was lodged somewhere behind my tonsils, we made our way to the little country church. It was right after service had ended.

All of us from youth group had wrote "prediction" letters. They were read aloud for all to hear although we were late to the actual reading due to some miscommunication on the start time. So after we got there I read through them all. True to Rob-form, I said nothing incriminating in my letter. Dear lord was I relieved. Back then, even at 16 my powers of self-preservation had not let me down. It's sometimes REALLY cool being this big of a geek. The ability to plan ahead rocks hard.

The letters were great! I mean a bunch of kids wrote them, some of us approaching it as a gag, so they weren't great literary works. But they were though provoking in places nonetheless. And some were heart-wrenching since one of the kids has passed on since writing his letter. It was sad to read but beautiful at the same time. Jeff, I miss you man. I hope I get to see you again someday.

After the letters were all done we moved our little gathering to the "chow down" area and commenced in fine Baptist tradition to "fellowshipping" which is a Christian term meaning "eat until you're in risk of commiting one of the seven deadly sins". We walked a razor's edge and had a great time! It was awesome seeing everyone. The dark side of me really liked the looks on the faces of those who didn't know us all - they looked like we were gonna come back and take over their church, haha (maniacal chuckle)

AND I got to talk with my old pastor. I was a deacon of his at the time when I wrote my time capsule letter. But he and I got to share a discussion about things I'd wanted to ask his opinion on for a long time. It was a good talk- not to be written here - but it was so, so good to see him. And a relief to hear his answers to my questions I'd had for so long. Other than having white hair as opposed to black, he really hasn't changed a bit. And I've missed him.

After we'd all said our goodbyes, I took "the fam" on a tour of my old hometown. Showing them where all I used to live, where I rode my bike as a kid, and yeah ... where all my old girlfriends used to live. Hey might as well go for broke right? My family was so cool about it all. They were patient with me while I drove them around all my old memory lanes.

It was a great, great and powerful trip :) I'm gonna be thinking about this for a long, long time.