So I trekked to Kerrville last weekend for a reunion of buds who have stayed together for the 55 years since we graduated.
I’d have to say we’re still recognizable after five and half decades, but that hardly stands as a full-throated endorsement of our appearance.
Still, we’re all in our mid-70s and most of us have endured various medical maladies.
We didn’t stay on that topic long.
Instead, we talked about our long-ago sports teams that we can’t really remember, families, grandchildren and, in a few instances, great-grandchildren.
I have three grown grandchildren, so the thought of another generation coming is not a distant thought.
I did see half of my grandchildren this visit and they remembered my name – an extremely good sign.
Kerrville is a growing community.
When I moved to Bay City in 1997, the two cities were about the same size, but Kerrville is on I-10 and boasts a number of big box stores on the interstate.
I’ve always liked Kerrville’s location in the Hill Country on the cypress-lined Guadalupe River.
But real estate development has then and now operated at a rapid pace.
Our reunion is a ways upstream on the river from Kerrville and I saw several big western-style gates leading to places that more often than not are second or third homes.
Two of my contemporaries are in real estate and one described how an aerial photo shows the hills are laced with roads that link new developments.
Hardly surprising that, but still sad nonetheless when I thought back to my teenage and early adult years of how different the unspoiled hillsides were.
Lots of places go through that over the decades, but it once was a magical place to me.
When I was in my 20s in Kerrville, I had a chance to buy a place in the hills that was well off the beaten track.
It didn’t work out money wise, but that doesn’t stop me from musing what could have been.
On my trip to Kerrville, I got caught in the forever construction on I-10 between Seguin and San Antonio.
It squeezed the heavy traffic on both directions of the interstate down to a slow, 30-minute crawl – one of those that comes with frequent stops.
On the way back, I took the San Antonio Loop 1504, and went up I-35 to New Braunfels and down a back road to Seguin.
I’m glad that I prevailed over my resistance to going and I was glad my journey returned me safely home here.