Comments on: embracing the present by way of the past

By: Jaibee

Jaibee — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 17:02:46 +0000

What an amazing post! Really, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone express in concrete terms the power of relationship and community like that — which is what we are all made for. Thank you, Sarah! You’re awesome!

By: Randy

Randy — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:05:04 +0000

I really enjoyed this post.

Thank you.

By: trish

trish — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:11:31 +0000

I’m really sorry. That is very sad.
Mr. Lee, however, is a GREAT summer song.

By: Henri

Henri — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 16:36:08 +0000

Ah, nostalgia. It is nice to be able to visit old homes, for sure, but I really like the idea of collecting nostalgic moments now, and just running through as many of them as possible.

In fact, now that I think about it, I’m already nostalgic for the beginning of this post.

I’m joking, of course (because that’s what I do), but I think it’s also true. One day we’ll be nostalgic for this moment, and even for the way the old nostalgia felt. It’s crazy and horrible and beautiful all at the same time.

It’s also awesome that you not only can touch base with Emily now, but even that you stayed in the same place long enough to have a childhood friend like that. You just made me realize that when we moved from Crystal Hills in Houston up to Kingwood when I was halfway through kindergarten, I actually *did* lose some of those original friendships. I don’t usually think about the preschool friendships as actually counting, because all we really did was tie yarn around the seedling pine trees in my front yard, and obviously as we’ve grown up and apart from those days there’s really not much of a need to touch base with them at all (although it would be funny to try to have “remember when” conversations with people that you only knew from the ages of three to five).

I made new friends in elementary school, of course, and it’s fun to run into some of them from time to time, but it was different than the days when someone living down the street from you was all you needed to become inseparable.

Plus, the kids that lived down the street from me in Kingwood were kind of dicks. Although to be fair, one of the jerks who would throw lit black cats at me when I walked by had an older sister, and she introduced me to MTV and more specifically Michael Jackson, so it was ultimately a very good neighborhood for me to have lived in.

By: josh

josh — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:15:03 +0000

I can’t believe that sort of thing happens. Whenever I see a driver like that, I just hope that they’ll hit a pole or a guard rail instead of a family in a minivan. That’s not ok. People like that make me wish that I was a prosecutor.

By: Kelly Howe

Kelly Howe — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:08:32 +0000

Sarah,this post is beautiful, and you really helped me engage with the past in a way that is more joyful, generous, and productive today. Thanks! I hope that, besides this event, your summer is going well. The pictures from your last few entries speak fun. And speaking of the not-so-long-ago past, I would really like to get together when I get back to Austin from the summer. And if Meredith is up, I’d love to see her, too. Take good care!

By: Jen K.

Jen K. — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:11:13 +0000

I heard about this through CBC…sorry you and your parents had to visit “home” under such sucky circumstances. I am glad you got to reconnect with friends from your past and I am truly glad we’ve been friends for more than 17 years…

By: cindy dawn

cindy dawn — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:19:57 +0000

what a tragic and beautiful story. i am so sorry your old babysitter & her family were killed in such a horrible way, but in spite of this you were reconnected with an important part of your past. i love the way life works like this. i’m happy that i happened upon your path, which allowed me to know about your blog, where i always see something that makes me smile and sometimes cry. you are one incredible young woman. thanks for being here…lve you=cd

By: Meredith

Meredith — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 01:23:02 +0000

I think Tiffany’s “Coulda Been So Beautiful” really is the first song that spoke to me when I was a kid. That or Ben E King’s Stand By Me.

love you, lady

By: weenston

weenston — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 00:05:37 +0000

how tragic. i always get nostalgic when i see patients in the nursing home. many of them are there after similar freakish accidents and are now in vegetative states. i hate going there because it smells like urine and poop, but it always puts things in perspective.