Last night, I attended the homecoming game for my high school, Fairfax, that's located in Northern Virginia. It was a lot of fun going with my father, watching the ol' team play sloppily but win, and to see a classmate friend of mine. Eating the $1 popcorn and the cans of Coke that probably were in the snack bar in the mid 90's, are still being served, and you cannot beat paying only $5 for this kind of entertainment. In many ways, it was a stroll down "memory lane," and for those who haven't had the chance, I hope you get to, as last night was a lot of joy but it also provided a few moments of reflection. These are good, and as I walked the same areas I did as a high school student, I looked back at the past, and the future.
To get to the snack bar, you have to walk all the way around the gridiron, and I saw a lot of young faces, people that have their whole future's ahead of them. My son's grave lies less than five miles from here. Smiles and laughter were visible, and homecoming queen contestants were hopeful about their dreams of going to college, along with making a difference in the world. Some of their goals were quite amusing, and provided a laugh, knowing that many of them are going to do well, but also life is unpredictable. As I walked the area on the fence, I laughed at this being the place I tried to get for dates, although I was so awkward and socially inept, that I probably couldn't have got a date if I paid for it :). Yet here were these young people, in the prime of their lives, and my son's grave lies just a few minutes down the road. It is a stark contrast to them, here you have young men and women who are just getting started, and a five year old is buried six feet deep under red roses.
These high school kids have dreams. I hope that they are able to achieve them. Yet when looking at the thousands of people, I couldn't help but think, how naive I was about life back then. I also realized I'm getting old. That's okay, as these young people don't have the grey hairs, the lack of hair, or the battle scars that they hopefully don't have to earn. At the same time though, when you think about how many people were there, some of these kids one day are going to have a child with special needs, or contend with the loss of one of their own flesh and blood. A lady yelled at the food counter, impatient with these high schoolers, who seemed to be the very definition of "human cholesterol", at the snack bar. I ordered some popcorn and those sodas, and walked on back. Some of these kids, whom are so happy right now, unless cures occur at a miraculous rate, are going to contend with tragedies in their lives one day.
It was fun watching some fine passing and tackles. No one was seriously hurt during the game, which is a win, regardless of what the score on the boards show. Life is unpredictable though. Many of these homecoming king and queen candidates, along with the high schoolers in attendance, will one day have to contend with a child who has special needs, or perhaps having to put dirt upon their little girl or boy. They walk the sidelines with a wide open future, as truly the world is their oyster, and they haven't seen yet what reality is all about. I hope they are enjoying it, from the bottom of my heart. As I rounded my way up to the stands, and had a near accident trying to climb over a fence to get there, that was another close call. We don't know what lies ahead of us, but all we can do is just hang on, and do the best we can regardless of the circumstances that have been thrown to us. Hopefully it will be a touchdown, and not an interception, because we must remain going for that "first down" regardless of how many challenges are flooding us from every direction.
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