Looking Forward, Looking Back

Earlier this spring Dave and I went to a performance of "Arabian Nights" by the College of Charleston's theater group. The students were amazingly talented as they performed adaptations of One Thousand and One Nights, tales from Arabic storytellers and authors handed down through the years.

As we sat in the audience I watched as students made their way into the theater. In front of us a group of four students plopped down in their seats. During intermission I eavesdropped as they joked about the play's sexual references, teased a member of the group for sneaking out for a cigarette, and worried out loud about work they had to do. It was so much fun listening to their comfortable banter and you could tell they were close friends. I imagine they were seniors who had roomed together throughout college and at the end of the play I found myself wondering if these students would stay friends. Where would their paths lead? What would they accomplish in their careers? In life? And then I thought of my own college friends--still some of the most important people in my life.

I smiled to myself as the students walked away.

As Dave and I walked out of the theater I ran into a woman I had met the day before at a volunteer job. I really liked her because she took the time to teach me about the plants in the garden we both worked in. It was so neat to run into her at the play so that I could introduce her to Dave. She introduced me to her husband and then explained that he is a retired professor at the College of Charleston. They had moved to Charleston early in their married life in the 1950s for his job as a professor. They both were very interested in our new life in Charleston and our life at the College and asked us about the courses Dave teaches and what I do for a living. I thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them.

And as we said goodbye and walked away, I could feel their smiles follow us out of the room.