I attended my 30^th High School reunion last weekend in Tuscaloosa.

The gathering for Holt High’s Class of 1988 began with everyone exchanging hugs and handshakes before we transitioned to showing photos of our children and grandchildren, for some.

Recognition wasn’t a problem, although the reunion committee made badges from our senior portraits in case somebody didn’t remember anyone.

Between conversations of us getting older, wider and slower, former classmates were curious about me living in Selma and my job as News Editor for The Selma Times-Journal.

The questions ranged from ‘’Do you really like living in Selma’’ to ‘’Is Selma as bad as the movie made it look?’’

My responses to all queries were initially met with a loud chuckle. I told them I enjoy living in Selma and what happened in the movie was over 50 years ago.

My former classmates weren’t born during the two of the most important pieces of the Civil Rights puzzle: the Selma to Montgomery March and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

I also discussed with my classmates the new challenges Selma brings, especially the assortment of enterprise stories I’m currently working on.

Through my job, I’m trying to help revitalize Selma and Dallas County. Being part of such a process would be the second greatest accomplishment in my career.

Nothing will ever compare to Hurricane Katrina, which ravaged New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 2005.

I am still humbled being a part of The Sun Herald’s Pulitzer-prize winning team in 2006 in Biloxi, Mississippi.

For one weekend, I got to relive the past and revisit where I came from. It was sad to see the weekend end, as we went our separate ways again. The Class of 1988 reunion was officially over.

A song from one of my favorite movies, “Cooley High,” quickly flashed inside my mind: “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday.”

Moving on, I look forward to making new memories in Selma and Dallas County.