Wednesday, January 11, 2012

High School Reunion Reflections

 It was an interesting picnic last summer to say the least… there weren’t hundreds lining up for burgers n dogs – maybe 25 or 30 of my fellow class mates from a few decades ago. Somehow that seems better to say than 44 years ago.LOL! Putting names to faces was a bit dicey for some but there were the few that I could name coming up sidewalk from the parking lot. Guys that I’d spend some of my best teenage years around and a few ladies who are as unmistakable now as they were then – shall I say they have aged much more gracefully than I.

It was good to not to see little cliques here and there, everyone mixed so well together – like the state football champion running back talking old times and new with the lead chair from the brass section. Old stories about ski club bus rides, study hall escapes, coaches who taught and teachers who coached… Have you seen? Where’s he or she now? Good stuff!

Many times the discussion turned to today and tomorrow. How are you doing? Things are tough for some… Thank god most of us there still have our health - some are not doing so well. Most are retired or near, some still relish in the daily grind even at our age… Some have matured, some of us not so much! LOL

I’ve heard people say they hated high school and wouldn’t go to a reunion ever. I don’t understand that – guess I have a very different perspective. How could you not want to see the people that helped mold you into what you are? Why wouldn’t you want to see and say hello and get to know again the close friends you had as a teenager? Sure some you have kept in touch with but most have faded away over time.

We did crazy things together, we did good works together, we created artwork, music & drama together, we scored touchdowns & baskets & runs together. We learned to live together, we chose careers, we chose friends together. We cried, we cheered, we won, we lost.. We experienced love and loss, we learned to deal with pain – physical and emotional. WE did all that and more. We – that group of fellow class mates, many of whom you spent 12 years of your life with… and a few have spent the rest of their lives with.

High school reunion? I wouldn’t miss it for the world if I could. These are the people partly responsible for “me”, whether it was just a smile in the hall on the way to class, the first love, the laughs at your jokes, the put downs for doing wrong, the support when your young world was falling apart. I relish the days I spent at old WRHS and all of the people who were a part of it. Because they were and are a part of it now in their own way. From watching submarine races to determining if light was a particle or a wave are a part of my life, a part of me I’d like to revisit every year or so…

It's good to see “old friends” – Carol, Cindy, Kent, Bev, Jim, Craig – just to name a few. Dreams tonight will be retro, n that doesn’t mean black n white – LOL! Spinning some ’67 tunes – I’m almost there… It’s great to have and see great friends! Lov ‘em all!

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