Sadly, this week proved my point

In a post I wrote a while back, I made the statement that:

One of the most interesting things about it to me is that we are all still connected to our hometown in some way. Many of our parents or grandparents still live there, and some never left the area. The recent death of one of my friends grandparents made me think that we are all still connected by that single strand. Something will invariably draw each of us back home, whether it be a wedding, funeral, reunion, or holiday. We don’t all descend upon that little town on the Kansas prairie at the same time, but we all cross into the city at some point.

….

That web of connections grows and blends together with time. Each of us has new friends and maybe new places we live. Those new friends are added into our own web, connecting us to their past, and they to ours. Our children will develop their own connections to other people, as will our grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and so on. Each person that my life touches will, knowingly or otherwise, have a connection to a small town in south central Kansas, a family farm, and a community of people willing to do anything for each other.

Apparently there is an event that exists which caused us all to descend upon the Kansas prairie at the same time. Unfortunately, it happened yesterday. I think that each person that Tad touched when he left Caldwell who was at the funeral was able to see that they are now inextricably tied to Caldwell, that they will each have a place in that little town. All one has to mention was “I knew Tad” and they will have made another new friend with whoever they are talking to.

Many times I miss my small town. As my friend Mick said on Tuesday, when you live in a large town, you might know a lot of people but not very well. When you grow up in a small town you know few people, but you know them far more intimately. That web I wrote about a year ago is much more interconnected than a simple chain of friends. We shared joy, sadness, winning, losing, life, and death. I wish that it hadn’t taken the funeral of  a classmate to show that. It was like the saddest family reunion ever.

What do we learn from it? Let’s keep that chain going. Let’s make sure that we don’t get lulled into losing touch again. Let’s do what Tad did and make the most out of whatever profession we have been placed into. Be the best teacher, the best sports reporter, the best pharmacist, the best mother, the best software developer, or the best pastor that you can possibly be. Touch so many lives that Caldwell becomes larger than life.