Old Friends / New Love

I graduated high school in a class of forty-four students from Yates Center High School. Each year during Memorial Day weekend, Yates Center hosts their version of Old Settlers. One of the things I enjoy most about Yates Center Days is meeting someone I haven’t seen in thirty years. Honestly, it happens every year.

It happened several times this year. Two of the people I saw, Tim and Suzy, have a fascinating story.

They were both in my graduating class of 1985. Suzy and I sat next to each other in French class our sophomore year. Tim and I played football together and both ran track in junior high.

Suzy moved to the Kansas City area after our sophomore year. Tim moved to California after our junior year. Neither graduated from Yates Center High School.

I hadn’t seen either one since they left high school. That is, until Yates Center Days, 2018.

They each got married, had children, and then subsequently divorced. Three years ago they reconnected on Facebook. Tim had been around the world, but lived in California. Suzy was still in Kansas City.

After some time of correspondence, Suzy had to make a trip for work to Texas. Tim traveled a lot with his job and happened to be in Oklahoma at the time, so they met in person for the first time in nearly thirty years. Afterwards, they decided to meet again, at Yates Center Days, 2015, for our thirty-year reunion.

They met, didn’t recognize anyone else in the class, so they skipped the float in the parade and the reunion that afternoon.

Tim and Suzy started dating, Tim moved to Kansas City to work for his brother, and a year ago they got married.

As I visited with them over Memorial Day weekend, they joked that they were slow, that it took them thirty years to get it right. Those two are as smitten with each other as any two lovebirds I’ve known.

It would have been fun to see either one of them, but to see them together and happy was a real treat.

They almost, almost, gave me hope that true love can be found at any stage in life.