I ran into an old friend today. Actually, he was my best friend for a brief period of time during my elementary and middle school days. We lived in the same street, played the same games, and watched the same movies.

What was so great about it, was the days that I would come over his house, and eat a lot of junk foods. As, I may have mentioned before, we didn’t have much junk foods back when I was growing up. So, it was always a treat to go to a friends house and indulge once in a while.

His family owned a convenience store in the area and they always seemed to have a lot of food around. He was Italian, and I just loved his family.

Anyway, I haven’t seen him in years, probably around 10 years and in that time, I guess both of us changed quite a bit. He was a bit taller, he looked older, and he didn’t seem as scrawny as I remembered him to be. He was probably thinking the same thing.

We talked for a little while, exchanged phone numbers, and said our goodbyes.

I don’t really know what it was, but it was a bit different for me. I thought, that our reunion would be a bit more exciting, but it wasn’t.

It got me thinking, how much do we really change throughout the years? And now that I think about it — a whole lot. It’s good though, that we change so much, we grow as individuals. When I look back at all the things I’ve done, I really don’t see how I could’ve been so immature, but when you’re in your teens and in high school, I guess that’s just a road that you take.

We’re all a bit different in the path that we walk, but this I’m sure of — we all grow.

I’m glad that I can look back at my past, my old friends, and my old colleagues and still smile and the wonderful times that we had. And even though I love the memories, I’m still happy where I am right now.

And that’s it, right there. The realization that our happiness is not in our past, but in the present. Even if we have had such wonderful times in the past, to live in that past is another thing, because no matter how hard you try.. you just can’t live in the past.

The present time is all we have, and we should make the most of what we have now, and what we have accomplished to get us to this point.

And the next time I do meet an old friend, I hope we get the chance to reminisce, and also enjoy where we are now in our lives.