block party

I admit I have a tendency to romanticize the past, but you can check with my siblings on this: we grew up in a wonderful house on a wonderful street, surrounded by wonderful people.

Time goes on, people sell houses and move away, we all get older, and once in a while there is something besides a death that gives us a reason to get together.

Yesterday we had such a time, when my longtime next-door neighbors celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. It was a great day. Most of their bridal party attended, their grandchildren wore their wedding outfits, and all their offspring and friends were there to wish them well and to marvel over their pictures from 1956.

A 50th anniversary party is more remarkable than the first wedding day. What if we knew everything that was going to happen -- would we still make the same choices? Our friends have relished their 50 years (50+ if you count their time as high-school sweethearts) but I doubt they could have foreseen the health problems, rocky times, stresses and traumas. Fortunately all the joys, the accomplishments, the shared secrets and bonds built over five decades outweigh all the rest.

If I knew everything that would transpire as a result of growing up where I did, I would definitely re-live it all over again. We get to choose our spouses; we usually don't get to choose our childhood neighborhoods. But if anyone ever asked me if I wanted to spend all those years on that street with all those people all over again, I would answer, "I do."