humility - a quick note

Since I signed up for Facebook to stay connected with friends who've moved away, I've had a trickle of contacts from former friends and classmates from my high school. This raises a certain fear of me, because my experience going back has often been that I don't fit in or make sense where I grew up. But so many of the people who've contacted me have responded with joy at hearing what I've been up to - and quite a few have congratulated my partner and I on our engagement. Reconnecting with old friends, I realize that even though we're in different parts of the country (and maybe with different worldviews, I don't know), we all want a lot of the same thing: to love and be loved, to have a happy family, to do something worthwhile. It's humbling to see and read them expressing joy and exasperation about their kids and their relationships, just like I feel (or would feel, if/when I have kids). It's humbling to be reminded that a lot of the distance between me and them is imposed by me. I get so caught up in the differences (and pain caused by rejection based on those differences) that I forget to look for similarities.