This past weekend I went to my High School Class Reunion. As I was preparing to go, I, of course, thought about the Reunion episodes on our favorite show.
So I got out my yearbook (fortunately my wife didn't donate it to a disease drive). I made sure there were no notes about the tears on my pillow. I took a refresher course on names and faces..although after 35 years, surprisingly we looked a little different. I kept it handy all night to look up people I did not remember..like the Ralph Haynes, Nate Bracey's or Edna Thoges of the my class. I was disappointed when I got there, and there was no live band with a saxophone player. Also no punch or classmate bartender..but they did serve a nice meal and had good waitresses. (No Cha cha cha either) The main thing I was looking for, of course, was to find out "who made it and who didn't." Sadly those "who didn't" don't tend to go to events like reunions where they are reminded of those "who did." The nice thing though is, after about 35 years..nobody cares. We just like to see each other happy. We all grieved together one who had passed, and all prayed together for a couple who had a child who was badly hurt. At this point in life, people are just people. We all had to put on our glasses to read the fine print in the yearbook (and not select the name with the wrong picture) I took a picture of my family so I didn't have to tell everyone "My wife and I have two boys AND a girl". There were some single and some divorced there, but I don't know of any long lost lovers looking to rekindle that old flame. Perhaps there were a few pondering what if? What if they had started a different relationship..but I think we were all happy with where we ended up, and who we married. I was surprised to learn that about 40% of the class stayed right there in our Little Mayberry-like community. (like Andy) Those folks liked seeing us out-of-towners, but I cherished seeing them all. Something I realized was: that no matter where you go, what esquire clubs you belong to or what Walnut Hills Country Club you belong too...you are always still a member of your graduating class. Everyone is equal in that regard. All the Ralph Haynes jocks, are long past their popular days, and sadly some do not live up to the inflated expectations. All of Ellen Browns that nature "had been so good to"...could only so far on good looks, and had to work and strive to succeed just like the rest of us. As you might guess, I was neither athletic or pretty...but I did write a pretty mean "Pickups and Splashes from Floor and pool." I was a sports editor of the newspaper and the yearbook..but I sure missed out on the Philomathian Society, Volleyball clean-up crew and Tin Foil drive. We enjoyed reminiscing about our Beasto Mareasto's and Monsters of the second Floor. We talked about our equivalent to the Remshaw place, which we called the "Dead man's house"...and laughed about getting a car stuck out front, hubcaps deep. Maybe someone met a new Flame, I don't know...Maybe someone was broken-hearted over news that an old flame was off the market. I just drove home with pleasant memories and my school's fight song playing in my head just like Andy and Barney sung on the porch. You can go back in time..but you can go back and be with old friends, and talk about the old days. Never miss a chance to do that! Thanks for letting me ramble The Untrained Voice _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
