Towards the end of my senior year in high school I remember thinking, “I’m having a great time”. After working through the whole awkward stage thing everything came together that year. Our football and basketball teams had successful seasons with some exciting moments. I had the steady girlfriend and the college opportunities were looking pretty good. Like most of Bergen County the town evolved around local sports. People in our area always wanted to talk about the seasons that just passed. Big time small town celebrities, we were taking it all in. It was the best time of my life.

A few months later and there’s a reality check. Back to the bottom of the food chain as a freshman in college – nobody cared about what happened in high school (a fairly humbling experience). After two years struggling to “find myself” I’m happy to report that my junior and senior years in college were a blast – not because I found myself but because they were interesting, fun and crazy times. So many experiences as the world (and I) went through all kinds of changes. Much to my surprise I found out that there was more to life than sports and girls. It was the best time of my life.

After graduating with a degree in “I’m not sure what this prepares me for” I decided this “finding yourself” thing was good cover for hanging out for a few more years. I started my own carpentry and painting business, rented a cabin on the Tennessee River, twenty miles from the nearest traffic light and soaked up the southern culture, living a comfortable, easy life. I couldn’t help thinking “this is the best time of my life”.

Five years later I’m back in Jersey, zig zagging in and out of traffic on Rt. 17 like in the good old days, sharing some of my inner most thoughts with the other drivers. I found myself saying “you guys” again instead of “y’all”. It was an OK time.

Three more years and I’m in a new job working with incredibly dedicated people, learning every day and excited about the challenges. I met and married my wife, Dawn and we move to Hunterdon County. Life was good. It was the best time of my life.

Ready or not we had two kids. The best time of your life takes on a different meaning when you are raising kids. Every stage is amazing and wonderful (at least that’s how I remember it now). Watching them grow from little people to big people is both frightening and thrilling at the same time. You see pieces of your life in theirs as they grow up. You hope it’s one of the best times of their lives because it’s definitely the best time of yours.

The older you get the more you tend to look back. It all looks great in retrospect and for the most part it was great. But while you go through it you don’t know what’s next or how it will be and you may not appreciate it.

I guess that’s the point of this ramble. When you look too far ahead you might miss some really good stuff that’s right in front of you now. Take it all in while you are in the middle of it – the good and the not so good. Seven of our seniors graduated this past June. I bet they’ll tell you that last year flew by. I hope next year’s seniors take it all in and resist the temptation of looking too far ahead. I hope they invest in their upcoming season and make the sacrifices necessary to create memorable events. I hope they can see what’s important now so the future they hope to have becomes possible. I hope they realize their legacy and their responsibility is to help make this a memorable year for their younger teammates as well. Enjoy the here and now – it will be the here and gone before you know it. I hope they can enjoy their time together and look back some day and think “that was one of the best times of my life”.

Bob Peterman