Thursday, October 26, 2006

HAPPILY EVER AFTER AFTER

The Classmates.com website is tastelessly constructed, though its core idea is laudable. But, since I had paid for a three-month “Gold” pass status so that I could read my friend’s obituary (below), I decided to poke around a bit.

I came across a piece of good news that I haven't been able to shake out of my head just yet. A pair of my high school friends had posted the announcement of their engagement...some 27 years after our graduation. I know it sounds like some sappy chick-flick, but I can't help it, I think it is wonderful.

Kim and Michael dated in high school, if I recall correctly, but then evidently went their separate ways at some point. I know very little of their intervening lives, but I remember hearing that Kim had gone on to modeling school and presumably a career in that field. She married and has an 18-year old son. Michael, too, married and at some point moved to Houston and created a successful advertising career. Now, both divorced, it seems, they have found each other again.

This makes me happy for several reasons. First, because, in general, I'm a happy-ending kind of guy (not to imply that their marriage means its all over; that's not what I mean). At the end of my movies, I usually expect all the bad guys to be dead, and the hero and his girl to be riding off into the sunset. That’s not a lot to ask, is it?

Secondly, these were two really, really nice people when I knew them in school, and I'm just glad to see them blessed. Mike and I weren't especially close, but we had several classes together and I remember him as a smart, easy-going, solid guy with a good sense of humor. Kim was, and still is, extraordinarily beautiful, but she also had a warm, sweet, generous personality. She was the kind of girl that made a guy want to sit up a little straighter, watch his language, and try to behave a little more gentlemanly...just because.

My prayer for them is that they live happily ever after.

2 comments:

Nestor Family said...

One of my most cherished friend's mom was a firm believer in "if the movie does not have a happy ending, it is not worth while seeing."

I think she was onto something... a great outlook on a lot of life's situations, perhaps... don't we all hope for that silver lining?

Great post...

Barry Pike said...

Yep...there are only a few exceptions. Like "Braveheart" or "The Alamo".