Tonight I, along with some of my closest compatriots, had the privilage of watching a bunch of old youth group videos from the collection of Mary Tipler. We also hope to get our hands on some videos from the collection of Bill Barnd for the purposes of creating a "greatest hits" collection of all of our high school youth group antics and/or shenanigans.
Needless to say we covered a lot of ground, from the Colorado HSLT of 98' to the triumphant performance of the Paul Johnson Fan Club at LT 2001. We laughed, we cried, we ate chips.
I guess what's most amazing to me is how much has changed, yet at the same time how much hasn't changed. There's this core group of people that I've hung around from the beginning of my young adult life to the present. Then, on the other hand, there are all those people that have come and gone since.
On a more personal level, it's always interesting to watch yourself at a younger age—even if it's only a couple of years. One always views ones present self being at the pinnacle of their personal development, maturity and saavy. Then years later, because of the advent of home video, we can see that was clearly not the case. And I'm sure if I watch videos in 2010 of my 2005 self, I'll be just as shocked and disgusted.
But there were certainly fun times sandwiched in between the awkwardness I saw on display this evening. The good memories are fun to reminisce about, and in some odd way so are the bad memories. If it's a bad memory it was never as bad as we remember it, and likewise our good memories don't really jive with the reality of whatever situation it was we remember so wistfully, so well, who cares?
And as the great Johnny Cash said:
"Life and love go on. Let the music play."
