You Can't Go Back

This last weekend I had the opportunity to attend my ten year (10 years!?!) college reunion in Tulsa, OK. I can hardly imagine that much time has gone by. The last time I was in Tulsa was to see some friends graduate in 1997.

Oral Roberts University campus hasn't really changed in 10 years. You've got your praying hands (as above), your prayer tower (seen below), and your unique architecture (also seen below). However, driving back onto campus, I realized how much everywhere else has seemed to change. Since I graduated, the cultural landscape in America has steadily been shifting. Or maybe its just that I'm no longer surrounded by the "Christian ghetto" that was Tulsa, and more specifically ORU. A quick scan of the radio brought up several Christian oriented stations, and everywhere there are churches of varying sizes.

In a way, I miss the ghetto. It was easier to always be surrounded by people who have the same beliefs and outlook on life and who reinforced my own beliefs. But it takes struggle and opposition and trials to see whether faith really exists, at least the kind of faith that believes without seeing. Overall I am grateful for my time at ORU, but now it is nice to see my faith enduring outside of the ghetto.

At my actual reunion I recognized many of the faces but had a hard time with names. None of the few people in my major whom I had spent the majority of my class time with showed up. Still we reminisced about the good times. I was able to go to some of my old favorite restaurants including Chimis for sonoran enchiladas (with green tomatillo/sour cream sauce), but I was sad to see that some favorites were out of business (Taco Cabana which used to be open until after midnight and was perfect for late night study breaks).

To finish up my weekend, I visited two of my great aunts who live in the ozarks of rural southwestern Missouri. Their small but cozy home in the woods (see above) holds many fond childhood memories for me. We had my aunt's family famous homemade vegetable stew for dinner, and then I showed slides of my more recent travels on their TV (the new iPod works wonders!). As I helped clean up the dishes, I felt melancholy emotions knowing that the way things were in the past and are now present cannot last forever. In fact my whole weekend of remembering good times was somewhat bittersweet. But I can't go back. I need to make new memories and look ahead to good times yet to come.