This group attended first grade together.The reunion was fun. Despite the number of years passed, most of us recognized each other eventually, but for a few I needed to check the name tag or ask. Of course I'd studied the yearbook over the past months, but we've all matured since we were 18 years old, wearing glasses, carrying a few more pounds, or sporting gray or much less hair than we did back then.
For me, this gathering was a delight because I was able to reconnect with a part of my life that had virtually disappeared, but it had been a huge part of forming the adult that I've become. I'd attended reunions with my graduating class at the other high school, but since I'd been with them for only two years, I wasn't part of the core of the class and I couldn't related to their reminiscences of grade school, junior high, and early high school. I didn't realize how much I missed that until this reunion.
Since this was my first time back with these childhood friends, I had a lot of catching up to do, and I only scratched the surface in the 5 1/2 hours we were there at the Legion hall. Some had come from as far away as Florida and Arkansas, and - as usual - some locals chose not to attend which I think is a shame. Two of our teachers were there, one who looked younger even now than some of my classmates whom he was mistaken to be on more than one occasion. Three majorettes strutted their stuff and showed they still know how to twirl a mean baton. The gal who first contacted me was welcoming, but she was so busy making sure that everyone was having a good time that, other than standing outside with her as she had a cigarette and explained to me stories about how smoking has long been a part of her life, we didn't have a lot of time to just talk. I had enough time with some of them to find out where they lived (some not far from me now) and what they were doing, and I look forward to seeing more of them in the next year or so as we make plans for get-togethers.
I was amused to realize how many people recognized my face so easily after 42 years but that many couldn't really remember me. I wasn't one of the class stand-outs, never really making my mark in sports (I played on the intermural volleyball team) or government (I ran for Student Council secretary against Virginia Something and lost miserably) or music (I was part of the huge chorus), but I had fun building homecoming floats and trick-or-treating for UNICEF, acting a minor part in a one-act play (The Lottery) and attending football and basketball games. The fashion shows when students in home ec. class modeled the clothing we'd made, and buying vanilla cokes at Lord's Store in the center of town, and the 9 p.m. town curfew, and more came flooding back Saturday night and as I drove around town on Sunday taking photos to share with my sisters. I realized I had a pretty darn good childhood in a nice town that, in some ways, hasn't changed all that much over the years.
For me, this gathering was a delight because I was able to reconnect with a part of my life that had virtually disappeared, but it had been a huge part of forming the adult that I've become. I'd attended reunions with my graduating class at the other high school, but since I'd been with them for only two years, I wasn't part of the core of the class and I couldn't related to their reminiscences of grade school, junior high, and early high school. I didn't realize how much I missed that until this reunion.
Since this was my first time back with these childhood friends, I had a lot of catching up to do, and I only scratched the surface in the 5 1/2 hours we were there at the Legion hall. Some had come from as far away as Florida and Arkansas, and - as usual - some locals chose not to attend which I think is a shame. Two of our teachers were there, one who looked younger even now than some of my classmates whom he was mistaken to be on more than one occasion. Three majorettes strutted their stuff and showed they still know how to twirl a mean baton. The gal who first contacted me was welcoming, but she was so busy making sure that everyone was having a good time that, other than standing outside with her as she had a cigarette and explained to me stories about how smoking has long been a part of her life, we didn't have a lot of time to just talk. I had enough time with some of them to find out where they lived (some not far from me now) and what they were doing, and I look forward to seeing more of them in the next year or so as we make plans for get-togethers.
I was amused to realize how many people recognized my face so easily after 42 years but that many couldn't really remember me. I wasn't one of the class stand-outs, never really making my mark in sports (I played on the intermural volleyball team) or government (I ran for Student Council secretary against Virginia Something and lost miserably) or music (I was part of the huge chorus), but I had fun building homecoming floats and trick-or-treating for UNICEF, acting a minor part in a one-act play (The Lottery) and attending football and basketball games. The fashion shows when students in home ec. class modeled the clothing we'd made, and buying vanilla cokes at Lord's Store in the center of town, and the 9 p.m. town curfew, and more came flooding back Saturday night and as I drove around town on Sunday taking photos to share with my sisters. I realized I had a pretty darn good childhood in a nice town that, in some ways, hasn't changed all that much over the years.
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