Summer Meetings

It had been one of those nights sure to be engraved in their brains for years to come.

They hadn't seen each other in quite some time. All spreading out across the country, beginning what were to become their own lives. It was the time that they had all looked forward to. Moving away from home, making new friends, experiencing things they had never imagined. Of course they were sad. It felt like they were abandoning everything they grew up with. Their mothers wouldn't be at the kitchen table greeting them with a smile in the mornings, a group of friends wouldn't be waiting for them at their locker - not that they even had lockers anymore.

They had all changed a bit. Grown both in stature and in mind. Came back different men.

At first when they all sat down, there was an awkward silence. Looking at each other, they were surprised by how similar and yet how different it all seemed. There were a couple beards that hadn't been there before, some new haircuts, the occasional tattoo - but most of all the energy had shifted. They could all feel it, deep down within themselves. After a moment they all began laughing, standing, and hugging each other. It didn't matter. Time had come and gone but their souls were the same.

It was all the same bullshit.

As the fire roared into the night, their laughter only continued to echo out over the field. Stories were flowing as easily as the beer. There were the typical freshman year tales about the first party attended, the first time they woke up and couldn't remember anything that ad happened the night before, details about their roommates that probably shouldn't have been told, or trying to out-do one another with how many classes were skipped. Of course there were a few shockers - how a class was passed by sleeping with the professor or someone's first experience with psychedelics - explaining how the walls had begun to melt and their couch was chasing them throughout the dorm.

Slowly but surely as the night creeped on and the moon continued to rise, their barriers started to come down amongst the friends and it felt natural again. It was inevitable. A year apart would do that even if they didn't want it to. They had kept in touch, but somewhere along the line, their new lives had begun to take control and pull them away and none of them had even the slightest idea.

It was all a part of growing up.

But the more and more they caught up, the more they realized how important everyone around them was. They had built their memories together. From their first nights away from home, their first kisses, and even graduation, they had been alongside one another from the very beginning. Pushing each other on.

In the morning once it was done, all that was left were a few chairs, a couple empty cans, and a smoldering fire. Nothing else.

The memories that had been made the night before were tucked away in each and every one of them.