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I'm Major Jackson and this is the slowdown. In a room full of old friends long distant, Gary asked, what did we miss from our youth?

Rhonda said, clouds of chalk dust at the end of the day

in Mrs. Niesmith's class.

Her favorite teacher listened to her more than other adults in her life.

When the last school bell rang, she ran to clean Mrs. Neesmith's blackboards.

Terry said, Summers with her cousins, whose parents were less stern,

walks to the ice cream store long after sundown.

Trey said he missed his body. He was a three-letter varsity athlete in high school.

Back then, he never gave thought to joint aches.

Angela loved putting on makeup and dancing at school parties.

As we talked, I could sense a longing rising in the group.

The silence between us said,

What happened to our younger selves?

To our levity and our play, our confidence, our carefree and

curious hearts.

In that relative comfort of our parents and caretakers, we moved in endless

possibilities of becoming and connection. But then we learned about broken promises.

We learned that bullies exist and that clicks are mean, that people are imperfect.

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