It’s Class Reunion Time!
The time for my 45th class reunion has finally
arrived! After about a year of planning, the weekend is upon us!
As most of you know, I have always loved my classmates from
the Class of 76 and I have loved these reunions from the first year we hosted a
five-year gathering! It is interesting to observe what has happened over the 45
years, but trust me, many things have changed and yet some things have stayed
the same.
At the five-year reunion, we were just babies. Some had just
recently graduated from college, some had married and were starting families,
and some were well into their careers. We were just a little, frozen in time. There
were classmates who had not changed. There were classmates that were not recognized.
There were classmates who had arrived with their spouses, other classmates. The
groups congregated similar to their high school gangs. Popular kids still
popular and wallflowers still wallflowers.
Fast forward to the 25th reunion when it seemed
like a lifetime had passed. We have held reunions every five years with great
success. The 25th reunion showed the guy classmates grayer hair and
the girls starting to be more glammed out. I noticed that we were just one big
group of high school friends with our spouses/dates. It wasn’t as divided as it
had been before. We were all in similar places in life. One thing that was bonding
for us is that we had lost several classmates. Some in tragic ways, some with
natural causes, but it was something that we all had in common.
This is not intended to be a downer, but we are not old…I mean
at the 25th reunion, most of us were 42, 43, 44 years old. You aren’t
supposed to die at that age.
Moving along to this year, we are now 63 and sadly, we count
31 classmates as dearly departed friends. Again, we have added to the list with
tragic deaths, illnesses, and natural causes.
This year, our attendee numbers are down somewhat. Some of
those not coming have indicated that covid is keeping them grounded. Some
others have indicated that the dates didn’t work out for them with family and
work commitments. Some have just said they prefer to keep high school a distant
memory.
I get covid. I get family and work commitments. However, I
am crushed to think that there were people around me for all of those years and
they felt lonely, bullied or left out.
I can assure you that I was not one of the popular girls, although I was voted “Most
School Spirit” my senior year! I had curfews, I was a rule follower, I didn’t
have a car, I didn’t have disposable income for fancy shoes/purses, but I was
extremely happy. I loved my high school years! Yes, there were moments of hurt
from comments about my weight, or being left out of a group/party/occasion.
There was one time I overheard classmates talking about my inability to play
powder-puff football and that they shouldn’t let me play. These girls did not
know that I was behind them and they probably still don’t know, but even after 45
years, I remember those words that stung.
I am not athletic and to be honest, I just wanted to be on
the team for the team shirt and the game day breakfast! LOL!! I really didn’t want to play because I
didn’t want to disappoint anyone. I held my head up, went to all of the
practices and of course, the guys put me in to be inclusive, but only for one
or two plays. I was fine with that.
However, my overall experiences were awesome in my opinion
and I have lifelong friends from those years. Many of those friendships weren’t
strong in high school but they have grown into the adult friends we all yearn
for and enjoy.
I know that on Friday and Saturday, there will be a group
of classmates, reminiscing and hugging on each other. There will be classmates
that don’t know about Greg and me, there are widowed classmates, and of course,
our Memory Tree with the names of our deceased classmates hanging on its lighted
branches. Some of us will have masks, some of us won’t but the love and
friendship that has endured all of these years, will continue. For the weekend,
we’ll be “seniors.” Maybe in our eyes we will be like our yearbook pictures. We
may even try dance moves that will have our bones creaking the next day. Even
with our gray or bald heads, we’ll be friends from high school.
For those of you who have not attended your reunions, think
about it next time…life is short!!! Let the games begin!!
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