Forty years have gone by since my high school accepted my parent’s bribe and gave me a diploma. Diplomas are said to go to good students so I’m not sure how I got one. But I took it anyway, like when I take communion in church without having gone to confession.
This past weekend my class celebrated our 40th reunion. Every five years I work on the committee. “Work” may not be the best description. We meet several times, drink beer and wine, and talk about our classmates. Just like in high school.
We invited as many of our classmates as we could find. Thank heavens for Facebook – that site was a great tool for obtaining addresses of missing classmates. It is amazing how many of our classmates still live nearby and we never see them. I assume they meet several times, drink beer and wine, and talk about us. Just like in high school.
We had a turnout of 33, not bad after 40 years for a class size of 185, give or take a couple classmates that earned their GED in prison.
The shortest distance a classmate traveled was about 40 feet – he lives across the street from where our reunion was held. I assume he had a great time because he got lost on the way home.
The farthest distance was about 3,800 miles. He came all the way from Alaska, showing up like a lost dog traveling across the country to rejoin his family. I imagine most dogs would have just given up their search after a few years but not this guy. He has not retired yet despite having 40 years in the Air Force. It makes me wonder how secure our Alaskan borders are.
The best part of the reunion was seeing everyone again. I talked to everybody and there were plenty of laughs and smiles. Usually when I left the conversation.
The worst part was not remembering who some people were and calling them by the wrong name. “Hi, Bill! How have you been?…What’s that?..Oh, sorry Kathy. No, you look the same – it must be my glasses.”
When I got home that night I discovered someone had put a “Kick me” sign on my back. Some things never change.
Who was that old guy at the reunion? Oh yeah, it was me. Maybe next time we can use name tags so we don’t need to keep asking “Who are you?” or in case we develop Alzhiemers “Who am I?” All I know is we are all here because we are not all there.