This evening, as I was wondering what I’d post on my blog, I got a notification that I’d been tagged in a Facebook photo by Aaron’s cousin Megan, whose wedding we attended back in October.
I immediately got up from the couch and went into the family room to retrieve our wedding album and snap a photo of the posed portrait with all the cousins. I posted it in a comment: “What a difference 13 years makes…”
But then I kept flipping through.
So much has changed. People have gotten older, and people have died. Friends have grown apart. Couples have divorced.
My mom with my late step-Gary
Our best man and his wife, whose children we’ve only seen on Christmas cards
My grandparents, who we visited last spring
Aaron’s grandparents, who passed away years ago
My friends Jessie and Dan, who I try to keep in touch with online
Cousin Nate and his daughter Caitie, who is now a teenager
Aunt Elaine, Nate’s mom, who passed away a few years ago, with her brother, Uncle Pete, Megan’s dad
It’s bittersweet, really. With a few exceptions, these honored guests are either dead and gone or too busy to reconnect with us (and I don’t mean on Facebook). There are a few we still see on a regular basis, and we appreciate and cherish those connections — but, for the most part, times have changed.
What a difference thirteen (almost fourteen) years makes.