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BC-ALBOM-COLUMN:DE _ op-ed, xst, xtop (850 words)

No time like the present to relive the past

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By Mitch Albom

Knight Ridder Newspapers

(KRT)

As I write this, I am about to fly to a college reunion. Not one of those formal blowout weekends, with speeches and slide shows and wine and cheese parties. No, just a reunion of a half-dozen guys I lived with during those four years, back when dinosaurs roamed the Earth.

To be honest, it's not great timing. I have a million things to do at work, flying across the country doesn't excite me, and more than once a little voice said, ``Aw, heck, you could just back out. You're busy. They'll understand. What's the big deal?''

What is the big deal? Why, every few years, do we hurl ourselves from the pressing present into the pretentious past? I sift through my memories, looking for an answer . . .

I remember the time, freshman year, when we had a parrot that we kept in our lounge area, ...